All are one
by LunarLacrimosa
Summary: Sam finds the Allspark shard in his jacket while Miles is over. Killed by kitchen appliances? Check. Come back as a mech? Double che-wait what? Sam's journey to accepting his new body as the battle between the Decepticons and Autobots continue. The faction line begins to blur as both sides take a step back to analyze their situation. Previously known as Curveball.
1. Waking up to a new body

**AN: **I wanted to try and continue this story a bit, but when I went back and read what I had I noticed a ton of mistakes, or that I didn't like the way I had worded things. So I decided to go back and edit each chapter before writing the newest one, and then reuploading the entire story under the new one. This story, and the entire first four chapters, were previously known as Curveball.

**Chapter 1  
****Waking up to a new body**

* * *

Sam could feel himself slowly waking up, and stuck his heels in trying to stay in the comfortable darkness of sleep, feeling slow and sluggish. But even as he tried to go back to sleep, thoughts came unbidden to his mind. Something seemed off, but he couldn't place what. Resigning himself to the fact that he'd have to wake up eventually anyway, Sam took a moment to think.

The first thing he actually thought was: where's Bumblebee? Ever since the mech had spoken at Mission City and Sam had accepted the young Scout staying with him, it was extremely rare for him to wake up on his own. Bumblebee had cracked down on his perfectly normal teenage sleeping schedule, and ever since Sam had been getting eight hours almost every night, but not allowed to over sleep. It had gotten to the point that even if Bumblebee had taken a trip to base for a checkup with Ratchet, Sam would wake up on his own around the same time his Guardian would have got him up. But there had been no planned trips that Sam could recall, Bumblebee would have told him.

Sam slowly realized that the more he thought the more blanks he was drawing. One of the last things he could remember was a static filled scream, sounding like it was from Bumblebee. Normally this would be enough to have him up and finding out what the hell had happened, but he still felt as if he were half asleep, and couldn't even come to open his eyes just yet.

That was another thing that was wrong. He had always been a hard one to get up, but once he was up he was up. Outside of just wanting to be lazy and lie in bed all day, Sam could get up fairly quickly. But now he couldn't draw himself away from the fogginess of sleep, or even bring himself to open his eyes yet.

After a moment of trying to battle through the cobwebs of sleep still clouding his mind, he gave up. He told himself to just think. What could he last remember? Bumblebee's scream, and having pancakes for breakfast. His mind focused on the pancakes even as he tried to think of why Bumblebee was screaming. They had been chocolate chip, something neither of his parents cooked. That meant Miles had been over, his best human friend enjoying chocolate chip pancakes, and Sam loving them just as much.

Despite Miles being his closest friend, he hadn't told him about the Cybertronians yet. It was only September, and while it had been several months since he had met Bumblebee, and the two were already on their last year of high school, Sam just couldn't find a good way to say it. On top of that he was worried about the Decepticons. There was still at least Barricade on Earth that they knew of, and Starscream had escaped.

The upside to Miles not knowing about the Cybertronians was that Sam could eat all the junk he wanted because of his friend, and get away with it. While chocolate chip pancakes weren't that bad, Bumblebee would normally bother him to work out later on to rid himself of any lasting effects. It was no wonder that Sam's gym grade had improved vastly. The down side, besides the guilt of lying to his friend, was that not only was Mikaela riding him to tell, but Bumblebee too. Miles rode around in Bumblebee all the time, meaning that the mech didn't have the freedom to do anything but play non-sentient car around him.

Sam pulled his mind back on track from where it had wondered off to. Miles coming over, cooking chocolate chip pancakes. Getting a text, and checking his messages. One from his mother, saying that she and his father had gone out for the day and that if he was going somewhere to put on a jacket, a side note saying to say hi to Miles for her, and the other from Bumblebee, reminding him to put on a jacket. The day was apparently colder than normal. Going upstairs to find a jacket then searching in the back of his closet when he couldn't find a clean one.

He could remember the next few parts clearly. Pulling out the jacket he had worn during Mission City, and sniffing at it. Deciding it would do since it didn't smell that bad, and he thought just maybe it would turn into his lucky jacket. Putting it on, and almost as an afterthought he checked the pockets. Surprise when he actually found something, and pulled it out to look at it.

A blank, then whatever it was burning him. Dropping it when he felt the burning sensation, and the object burning a hole in his floor, and he could remember cussing fluently, in both English, Spanish words he had picked up from Fig, and the words he had picked up from the Autobots.

He couldn't remember what he did after that, but he could remember hearing several odd noises from the kitchen, and then Miles scream. Racing down the stairs, two at a time, only to find what looked like his entire kitchen Cybertronian-ized, and freezing at what he saw. His kitchen was alive, and there on his counter was a piece of the Allspark. Watching as Miles tried to beat away the blender with a frying pan, and then noticed Sam, saying they needed to get out now, but Sam was running towards what he saw on the counter, using his hand to pick the shard up even as the blender of evil went flying past his head. Miles screaming something Sam didn't quite catch and running towards Sam, then grabbing him and heading out of the house.

They had nearly run right into Bumblebee, and Miles had fallen backwards, gaping up at the giant yellow Autobot in shock. Miles had taken a brief glance at the frying pan in his hand, and Sam could practically read the 'well, shit' look on his face when he realized this robot was a lot bigger than the others. Sam remembered trying to explain that Bumblebee was good even as the mech started to battle the kitchen appliances of doom, dragging his friend back up and farther into the backyard.

"Sam, I am going to be running a scan. Do not panic, and keep your optics closed."

Ratchet's voice suddenly broke through Sam's thoughts, startling him into letting lose a strangled sound of shock, but it sounded extremely odd to him. He felt rather silly, somehow thinking he was alone, but after remembering what he did it should have been obvious that he wouldn't. He listened to Ratchet's instructions, feeling it as Ratchet scanned him, which was unusual. He had never felt a scan before, and Ratchet had never used the term optics when referring to his eyes before. The Medic was pretty anal about what terms were used when referring to the tiny organics he worked with, unlike his fellow mechs. Something was wrong.

He opened his eyes, and everything looked different. He was in the Autobot Medbay, he could recognize that, but the ceiling appeared closer, and more detailed. Glancing at Ratchet, he found that the medic didn't appear as large as usual. Ratchet frowned at him, and Sam could see him move a servo towards him. Sam held up a hand to keep Ratchet's at bay, though he knew that in the end his weak organic arm could do nothing compared to Ratchet's. That was when he saw his own hand and froze, staring at it like he had never seen it before.

That's because he hadn't.

Sam screamed, or tried to, but all that came out was static. Almost instantly Bumblebee came into his line of sight, Miles in servo, but he didn't even take note of that fact. Ratchet hovered over him worriedly, trying to speak to him, but Sam couldn't make out what he was saying, staring at his hand. His servo.

He was Cybertronian. A thousand different questions raced through his mind, but nothing could explain it. Then the thought of his parents came up. How could he tell them? Hey Mum, Dad, look, I'm just like Bee now! They'd freak. He was freaking. What about Mikaela? Miles? Finishing high school? Going to college? He couldn't do any of that now. He wasn't human.

Miles cleared his throat to gain attention, all optics shooting to him as he sat awkwardly in Bumblebee's servo. "Can you show him how to do that human thingy?"

It took Ratchet a moment to understand exactly what Miles meant, before he was placing a servo on Sam's chest plates to hold him down, and using the ports at the back of his neck, added for a Medic's use, to connect, and then hack into his processor, doing several things at once. It was almost too easy, Sam posing no defense at all.

Sam was jerked out of his freak out session by the sensation of something going into his neck, and then Ratchet entering his mind. He started to freak out all over again, before everything suddenly went black. He panicked, not even realizing he had the option of opening his eyes for a minute. When he did he looked down at himself, seeing his human body.

But when he went to touch his own chest in amazement, nothing was there to touch. He was just about to re-enter freak out phase, when he heard his name.

"Sam?"

Sam's gaze jerked upwards to who had called him. Miles, sitting in Bumblebee's hand, was staring straight down at his best friend. Sam noted that he was in the same clothes he had been while cooking the chocolate chip pancakes, though he was unsure how much time had passed. His friend looked dirtier than he could last remember, clothes torn in random places, and a few scratches visible. It looked like he had been rolling around on the ground, and the way that the blender had been gunning for him, that was entirely possible. His hands were clean, though, which showed he had taken a moment to at least clean up a bit. There was a bandage on his cheek, and a small bruise on the left side of his forehead.

"Sam," Miles repeated his name to regain his attention, "This is cool."

"Cool…" Sam echoed dumbly, not even being able to process how his friend had come to that conclusion. He could see Bumblebee give Miles an incredulous look, and it looked like Ratchet wanted to snap at the teen.

"Dude, you're a giant robot..." Here Miles trailed off, before finding the word he wanted and picking up with enthusiasm, spreading his arms to emphasize the wow factor. "thing! Not like them, since you were born-made?-here on Earth. A giant robot made on Earth. And you got the same symbol as them; it's there on your shoulder."

"I do?" Sam asked, sounding unsure. He looked around with his hologram, noting that Optimus and Ironhide were in the room as well. He looked behind him, and could see his bipedal form. He looked to be about the same height as Bumblebee, but he couldn't tell for sure. He was unpainted, so the grey of the metal making his body up shone through. His optics were shuttered. Like Miles said, the only painted thing on him was the Autobot faction symbol on his shoulder. He was connected to several instruments that Ratchet was apparently using. Sam dragged his gaze away, turning it back to Miles, who was waiting.

"If you can use that, you can use the solid one that I saw Bumblebee use," Miles said, "Holoform, I think it's called? Not important, what is important is that I can still kick your ass if you ever annoy me, Judy can hug you as much as she wants, Ron can mess up your hair, you can still play fetch with Mojo, and hey, maybe you and 'Kaela can still get it on. So there's no worries, bro. And believe me, I am so kicking your ass, I've been making a mess of Bumblebee forever now and you never once told me!"

Sam felt grateful towards his friend. Miles was trying to help him see the good side of things, trying to keep him far away from his freak out mode by being the Miles he knew best, a silly even when serious kind of guy. Then he felt bad. How long had Miles been waiting for him to wake up, been thinking of ways to help Sam calm down? He had lied to his best friend about something as big as the Autobots, and Miles was still there. From the sounds of it, if Miles had been filled in he wasn't too worried about using the proper terms for everything, or he just hadn't been filled in on everything yet.

All of a sudden Sam felt tired, despite the fact he had just woken up. It was all just too much, but he still needed answers.

"What happened?" He asked, looking up at his Guardian. Bumblebee had been there, he would know.

"I was sitting in the garage running my usual scans when a blip of Allspark energy showed up on my radar, coming from your room. It had never shown up before, though I suppose it had to have been there all along. I transformed and looked into your bedroom window just as you dropped it, and watched as it burned a hole through the floor. Evidence shows that it transformed the mechanical objects in your kitchen, and I heard Miles scream just like you did. You'd left before I could say anything to you and not long after both you and Miles came out of the house still under fire by the kitchen appliances." Bumblebee trailed off and cleared his vocalizer, having hit a rough patch from talking too much. "I am not sure what happened to injure you as I was occupied with other things. Miles, perhaps, can fill in the rest."

"We were out in the backyard, and I was trying to beat off that damn blender, again. You were watching Bumblebee and playing lookout for any of the other hellish kitchen appliances, and I wasn't really keeping an eye on you. I guess I thought Bumblebee was taking care of all of them besides the blender, but the next thing I know is I hear you scream, like a little girl by the way, and I turn around to see the microwave is attacking you." Here Miles hesitated, "Microwave won. I won't go through the details, but you were a goner. I checked, no heartbeat and there was no chance of CPR or something getting it back. There was so much…" Another hesitation, Miles not wanting to freak Sam out or make him worry. "You were still clenching that magic doohickey thingy in your hand, and hell, I just thought I wanted the damn thing away from you. I knew it had caused whatever the hell was going on, so I went to take it out of your hand, and I guess Bumblebee had just realized you were down because I heard him scream your name, and then the doohickey went hot and I couldn't see anything. When my vision cleared you were still there, only as a big robo Sam.

Sam knew there was more he wanted to ask, more he wanted to say. The words fought for a place, and eventually something just came out on its own.

"The shard?" Sam couldn't help but wonder what had happened to it. The piece of the Allspark cube that Optimus had found in Megatron's chest was planned to be used to revive Jazz. Ratchet was working on repairing Jazz's body, and was almost done, so the reviving was going to be happening soon. What would they do with another one available? Or had all its power been lost on doing what it had done to him?

"In the confusion I lost it," Bumblebee almost sounded ashamed, though none in the room were going to blame him. Ratchet, Optimus, and Ironhide understood how much the Scout cared for Sam, and Miles wouldn't have thought much about going for a magic doo-hickey, as he had called it several times, if his best friend was dead on the ground then magically alive, either.

"Oh, I-" Sam's hologram fizzled out, optics unshuttering for a brief second before the light dimmed and then they reshuttered.

Ratchet quickly scanned Sam, before venting softly as he found the human-turned-mech had fainted. "He crashed."

"He lasted longer than I thought he would." Miles said cheerfully from his seat on Bumblebee's servo, looking down at the new form of his friend.

* * *

"This is Sam's room, but I doubt he'll really be using it. Not like he'd mind you using it," Will commented as he guided Miles into the room. The teen had been ordered to clean up, then been given a spare set of Sam's clothing. Luckily the two were roughly the same size, and that Sam had a few pairs for whenever he might spend a night on base.

The incident of the kitchen appliances of doom had happened Saturday morning. It was now late Sunday evening, and Miles hadn't slept at all. Sam had only just woken up about an hour ago, and Miles had spent all of his time on Bumblebee's servo for the most part, waiting for Sam to wake. He had only just gotten around to cleaning up, minus his hands. Those had been the first thing he had washed, even before going to watch over Sam with Bumblebee.

"Thanks," Miles muttered tiredly, "G'night."

Will nodded, before leaving. Miles waited until the door had shut and he could no longer hear the soldier's footsteps, before plopping down on Sam's bed with a sigh of relief. He took off his shoes, before picking the right one up and taking a tiny object out of it. Miles held the object up to the light to see it better.

"You've caused a lot of problems, haven't you?" Miles asked, though he knew there would never be a response. He tossed the shard up in the air, before catching it in his palm again, and making a fist around it as he thought.

When the shard had heated up between his and Sam's hands, Miles had jerked back, taking the shard with him. He had thought nothing of shoving it in his pocket as Bumblebee finished off the entire kitchen, before checking over the new mech body. And then he had just never said anything about it, sticking it in his shoe instead.

None of the Autobots had been able to tell he had it, which he still didn't understand. The energy was dormant so they couldn't sense it? What was up with that? He searched for a bit, before finally deciding to place it under Sam's pillow. That'd do until he could figure out how to keep it on him, or find a better place.

No one needed to know he had it just yet. Tomorrow he'd find a better place to keep it, and find out everything he hadn't been told yet concerning the giant alien robots his best friend, best friend's girlfriend, and government had apparently known about for a while now.


	2. Sensor net

**Chapter two  
****Sensor net**

* * *

The first thing Sam had been taught was something he insisted on, how to use a holoform. Ratchet had attempted to fight this, since Sam hadn't even tried to walk in his new form yet, but eventually he gave in. Letting the newly transformed boy keep his peace of mind was more important than learning about his new body at this point.

So Sam had learned how to use his holoform, and it looked exactly like his old human body, except for a few differences here and there. Only things he, or the people closest to him, never would have really noticed, like a light scar on the bottom of his foot. He used his holoform the most, though he did learn how to do some of the basic things in his bipedal mode. Luckily it seemed like some things were already there, and Sam just had to think about doing it. The commands and routines would carry themselves out, this way it didn't take him long at all to be able to walk, though it did take longer to have to stop actually thinking 'walk, turn, walk'.

Miles watched as Sam walked across the pavement, in holoform, beside Bumblebee. Except when Ratchet insisted on Sam practicing, or when he was recharging, the ex-human would always be in his holoform. He'd go everywhere in it.

"He is making progress. Ratchet said he was able to access the internet yesterday," Optimus said, watching Bumblebee and Sam as well.

Optimus Prime stood tall in his bipedal mode, nearly reaching the top of the hangar. Miles sat on a box down at the mech's peds, glancing up at him when he spoke, and snorting when he finished.

"Something he wanted to learn, besides the walking, lifting, and grabbing things. And he can do it even in holoform." Miles pointed out.

"You do not believe he is doing well?" Optimus asked, looking down at the organic.

"He _is_ making progress" Miles allowed, "But extremely slow progress. He needs to accept himself as he is now, or he'll never be able to get past this stage where he hides in his holoform all the time. Ron and Judy still don't know that their son has turned into a giant robot, and all my parents know is some smart government bullshit Will fed them through the phone."

Optimus vented softly, the Cybertronian version of a sigh. Everything Miles had said was true. The teen and the ex-human had been on base for nearly a week now, and while they still hadn't figured out what to do for Sam's situation, Miles was missing school and his parents were left fumbling around in the dark as to the true reason why their son wasn't home.

However, taking Miles away could very well be the straw that broke the camel's back in Sam's case, and the teen himself had said so. He was scared of leaving Sam and Sam needing him, or just someone, and Will, Epps, Fig, and everyone else not being able to understand what exactly he needed. It was no secret that Sam was still trying to get used to his new body, and while using a holoform most of the time wasn't helping, it certainly wasn't hurting. It just kept him in the same exact place, which in itself was both good and bad.

Miles had been the first one to get Sam to actually laugh, despite everything Bumblebee did to try to get his Charge to do so. The teen had everything explained to him, and trying to be helpful Optimus had shown him how some of the Seekers looked. Miles had called them flying doritos, and Sam had burst out laughing. Miles was the one, besides Bumblebee, who spent the most time with Sam. The teen would just act as goofy as possible, bring up inside jokes, and anything he could think of to get Sam to laugh or smile. Anything to help his friend out in this odd situation.

While Sam was in his holoform he'd shutter his optics, and shut down anything that wasn't vital on his bipedal body. This included his first level of sensor net, which was the ability to feel things on his metal armor. His bipedal form was left standing, out of the way, in a relatively unused hangar. This way he could focus entirely on the holoform, and feeling like a human again.

Currently Ratchet was working on just exactly what happened concerning Sam, Ironhide was going through weapons that Sam could use if he didn't have some already ingrained in his systems, the soldiers were doing paper work concerning introducing Miles to the whole shebang and keeping Sarah and Annabelle entertained, and Sarah and Annabelle helped de-stress the soldiers and provided a female influence on base.

Miles was the one to break the silence, "The shard. It was reacting to Bumblebee, wasn't it?"

"What makes you say that?" Optimus asked, not really wanting to go into this line of discussion and making it obvious through his tone of voice. But Miles pressed on.

"It didn't do anything until after he said something," Miles said, glancing back up to Optimus.

Optimus frowned, "Yes, that is possible. Bumblebee is one who can communicate with the Allspark on a small level. However, Bumblebee never asked the shard to do anything."

"Not out loud."

That was true, and Optimus didn't say anything against it.

"We do not believe that the shard was only reacting to him. The shard very well may have favored Sam, or at least perceived the situation as Sam being owed for what he did for our kind." Optimus replied, not wanting Miles to start blaming Bumblebee for what happened. If he did, maybe Sam would too.

Miles remained silent, leaning back on his arms as he stared out across the tarmac. Optimus watched the teen wearily. Bumblebee said Miles could be trusted, but all the mechs on base knew Miles was acting out to try to help Sam assimilate, and that meant the teen's true personality hadn't been shown yet. He had been attacked by kitchen appliances, seen his best friend dead, and found out about giant alien robots in the course of a day without blinking an eye.

"You know, I was always the one who believed in aliens. Sam never thought any could have existed, and he's the one that meets them first." Miles grinned, taking a moment to bask in the irony of it all. "Now he's technically one of you."

"And how are _you_ taking all of this?" The Prime asked, "Attacked, watched as your friend died, and then came back as an entirely different species. Finding out about us."

"Think I'm high as hell," Miles said jokingly, though it was lost on Optimus. The teen rolled his eyes, "By the way, could you make sure Ratchet doesn't squash me?"

Optimus blinked as he watched the teen stroll away. He was almost worried about what the boy could be thinking, but so far he had only helped Sam, and the Prime doubted that would be changing any time soon. He just hoped that Miles himself wasn't having too hard of a time. Sam was being kept fairly de-stressed by Bumblebee, Miles, and everyone and mech else. Miles didn't have anyone to do the same for him.

* * *

Bumblebee and Sam had been talking to Optimus and Ironhide, the Weapons Specialist finally having come out of whatever hole he had hidden himself away in when Sam's holoform froze, and Bumblebee watched his charge with a worried optic. Sam, however, paid his Guardian no mind. His entire focus was in his bipedal form, sensors alive and alert, all focusing on one thing on his body. Miles. Because he had turned the first level of his sensor net off, and Miles knew he did this, he could only guess his best friend had been extremely careful of how he climbed his bipedal mode. And once he reached the shoulders, Miles had reached in between a gap in the armor, and pulled gently at the wiring to gain attention.

"I'm going to ki-" Sam's holoform faded out of existence. The Autobot Scout looked around, before high tailing it to the hangar where he knew his Charge's bipedal form was. Ironhide and Optimus followed their youngest member, exchanging brief looks of confusion.

Optimus and Ironhide arrived at the hangar after Bumblebee, and when they entered it the first theing they saw was Bumblebee trying to hold in laughter. That meant everything was okay, and they could relax. Glancing at Sam, they could see why the Scout was having such a hard time not laughing. Sam posed quite the site, hopping from ped to ped as he tried to catch Miles. The teen was moving as fast as he could, swinging himself around or letting himself fall and grab on to a new place. The only reason Miles was out maneuvering Sam and managing to evade the grabbing servos was because of how cautious Sam was being. He was terrified of hurting his friend, and wanted him off.

Finally Sam seemed to have an idea, and just let himself fall backwards on to the ground while Miles was hooked on to some of the plating on his chest. He was smug up until his friend talked.

"Good thing you have such a big aft. It cushioned the landing."

Sam's indignant reply, which happened to include an interesting variation of human and Cybertronian insults, had Bumblebee finally breaking out into laughter while Miles just smirked. Optimus had his battle mask firmly in place to hide his own amusement even while Ironhide snorted.

Then Miles was finding a bigger gap in the armor, and shoving his hands inside. Sam stopped moving completely for a minute, not wanting to accidentally trap or pinch Miles somehow, before relaxing ever so slightly. Whatever Miles was doing, it felt good.

"Ratch explained how to give you guys a massage." Miles said cheerfully, "Haven't seen any of you up close yet, and I figure you might enjoy one. Bee, you're next!"

"Free massage? I'm in!" Bumblebee grinned, going over next to his Charge and sitting down, playing a cheerful tune off the radio.

Ironhide groaned, looking at his Prime. "Ratchet's in cohorts with tiny organics. We're doomed."

"Ratchet, Bumblebee, and you'll be sucked in soon too, old friend. Primus help us all, they are quite easy to get along with." Optimus chuckled, "Miles, I'm after Bumblebee."

"Right-o, boss 'bot!"

Ironhide shook his head, grinning. Sam was laying on the ground, Miles working his magic on the ex-human. Bumblebee watched the two, making the occasional suggestion for Miles to try, but mostly just talking. This was the most relaxed that Sam had ever been in his bipedal form, and both Miles and Bumblebee were making sure it was staying like that. Bumblebee, knowing some of his Charge's fears, explained that he'd always know where something was, like a tiny organic, because of his sensors. From the way he reacted to Miles, that meant they were already up and running and would work on anyone.

"I'm after Optimus then," Ironhide said, "And then we can sick 'im on Ratch."

Sam grumbled, "Get your own tiny organic massager. This one's mine."

Miles had another card up his sleeve; one he knew would make Sam at least want to use his new form a bit. The massage had gone well, and Sam had been spending some more time in his bipedal form. He even carried Miles around for a bit. The ex-human did freak a bit when Epps and Will ran in between his peds, the Captain's hair bright pink because of his Sergeant, but that didn't last long. When they came back around he barely noticed, and just continued his conversation with Bumblebee and Miles.

While Sam couldn't have been called a car buff, knowing little about the insides of one, he did like the good looking ones. And now he could change into one, which was something Miles doubted he'd been thinking of.

He walked over to Sam's bipedal mode, car magazine in hand. He waited until his best friend picked him up before showing it to him.

Miles grinned, "You better pick a kick ass alt mode, or I'm officially ditching you as my best friend."


	3. Dance Dance Revolution

**AN:** First part may be a bit confusing so I'll just give it away: I like a meddling Primus, though he takes a bit of an unusual form in this story.

**Chapter three  
****DDR**

* * *

It sent out its energy, searching for anything big enough so it could take form. The human boy who usually kept it close was gone, and it was attempting to use that time wisely. Not that it didn't appreciate the boy's efforts; if it had been left with its own kind then it would have more difficulty. But frustratingly, there was nothing. It had to wait.

* * *

Sam was sitting out in bipedal mode beside Bumblebee. Both were just relaxed and lying on the ground, doing what Bee liked to refer to as 'sun bathing' for Cybertronians. They were really just absorbing the solar energy all around them, which was nice, but in the end it couldn't be used as a replacement of Energon. Just because it was morning didn't mean they actually had to do anything productive.

He hadn't chosen an alt mode just yet, still not ready to transform into one. He knew perfectly well that it _could_ be a big step to accepting his new body, and that it would need to be taken at some point. But no one was rushing him. He could wait for a little bit longer.

Something was unusual, though. Well, a human turned mech could be counted so, and Sam certainly still felt weird, but even he had slowly begun to get used to it. He didn't wake up surprised in the morning anymore. Well, when he was dragged out of recharge, that is. He was just as difficult to wake up now as he had been a human, something which annoyed and pleased Bumblebee at the same time. It meant he could find new ways to wake Sam up, ways he wouldn't have dared try while Sam was a human and Bumblebee was playing car in his garage, but at the same time he had to battle to get Sam to wake up.

No, what was unusual was the absence of Miles. His best human friend had gone back home to get all his schoolwork, talk to his parents, talk to Sam's parents, and to talk to Mikaela. Sam would naturally be completing his education with the Autobots, but Miles didn't have that option just yet, if he ever would.

"It's a bit odd not having him around, isn't it?" Bumblebee asked suddenly, and Sam snorted. Sometimes he could almost swear his Guardian could read his mind, or they had very similar thoughts.

"He had to go back at some point. I'm just happy he stayed around in the first place." Sam said wistfully, staring up at the blue sky.

"You are still you, Sam," Bumblebee admonished, sitting up to look down at his Charge, and placing a servo directly over his Spark chamber. "Only your body has changed, and it has been changing since you first came to existence. This is just a bigger change."

Sam hadn't exactly thought about it that way before, but he knew Bumblebee was right. And then he thought of something he hadn't at all before: how Bumblebee felt about the change. They had only breached the topic once of a human's short lifespan and his Guardian had spent the rest of the night sulking over the thought. Sam had never bothered to think that maybe someone, some_mech_, could be made happy by his transformation. He knew none of the Cybertronians would mind it or turn him away, and that his parents, when they eventually found out, would be happy he wasn't dead. But someone or mech being happy that he was technically a Cybertronian instead of a human now? That was a revelation.

Sam knew Bumblebee was one of the youngest Autobots, having been a Youngling when the war started. Because of the war Bumblebee really didn't have anyone around his age that he could relate to, the Autobot army mainly made up of already adult mechs, or close to it. The war killed off a lot of Younglings and Sparklings, and Bumblebee had been one of the lucky few to survive it. The Scout had been raised through the combined efforts of Ratchet, Ironhide, Optimus, Jazz, and some others. There was always a difference between a family relationship and a friend relationship, though. In Earth years he'd be just a year older than Sam, and they had found out quickly they got along great interests wise.

Sam hadn't done much in his bipedal mode yet. He had walked around, carried Miles, Epps, Will, Fig, and even little Annabelle, taken to sun bathing, and gotten a massage. Besides that, all he had done was recharge and refuel, coupled with Ratchet's showing him how to get some things done.

Thinking more, Sam could remember Bumblebee talking about a game they had Cybertronian-ized, DDR. He had been excited to try it out, but with Ratchet working on Jazz's body, Optimus planning ahead for the new recruits and doing leader things, and Ironhide making weapons as well as going over their inventory in case of an attack, Bumblebee really didn't have anyone to play it with. The Scout was mainly waiting for Jazz to be revived, other Cybertronians to land, or one of the other three mechs with him to get overcharged enough to agree to play it with him.

The human turned mech decided it was just about time he started thinking of others again, and grinned, placing his servo over Bumblebee's and surprising the mech just a bit.

"Yeah, buddy, I am. By the way, whatever happened to that DDR game? I think it's about time I school you."

* * *

Epps had been looking to get away from whatever paperwork Will had for him, and had just entered the main hangar for no reason. He hadn't been expecting much, maybe a 'bot getting some Energon, Annabelle with Fig or Sarah either watching tv or doing some kind of craft. When _Can't Touch This_ reached his ears, he knew something else was going on.

Walking in on a dance off between Bumblebee and Sam wasn't all that surprising, if they had been using holoforms. But the fact that they were in bipedal mode had thrown the Sergeant for a bit of a loop, and had left him staring at the scene in front of him as the song neared its end. All three, though neither mechs were paying Epps any attention, watched as the scores came up once the song ended.

"I'm going to beat you if it's the last thing I do!" Sam groaned, glaring at his score. He should have guessed that he'd get his ass handed to him, but he'd gone in cocky.

Bumblebee merely laughed at the ex-human, playing a sound clip Sam could recognize, "Check on the rep? Yup, second to none."

Sam swatted at Bumblebee's shoulder playfully, before hearing Epps clear his throat. Both mechs turned to look at the human staring up at them with a grin.

"Looks like I need to teach you some moves, Sammie." Epps said, smirking.

"I've seen you dance before. Thanks but no thanks," Sam deadpanned, Bumblebee snickering from his side as Epps adopted a hurt expression.

* * *

Miles had returned to his house, already packing a few things for the next morning when he went back to the Autobot base. He would be spending the night, Will having dropped him off and bade him farewell with a salute instead of an actual goodbye. Miles had yet to actually make friends with any of the soldiers, more focused on Sam and helping him cope. He'd have to remedy that at some point.

He heard a horn honk from outside, causing Mason, his large Mastiff, to bark. He frowned, wondering if Will had possibly forgotten to tell him something. Well, the soldier could wait. He looked around his room, grabbing clothes, a few school things, his Ipod, his phone, and whatever else he thought he may need. Mason eventually grew quiet, laying on Miles' bed and watching his master. The dog let out a single bark, starting to wag his tail just as Miles heard a voice.

"Miles."

Miles jumped at the voice, turning around. Standing in the doorway was a furious looking Mikaela Banes. Arms crossed over her chest, and foot tapping impatiently against the floor. Will hadn't been the one to honk the horn, it had been Mikaela. His parents, or Sam's, must have told her he was here.

The two had eventually become friends, Sam being the common ground between them at the beginning. Miles did apologize for all the name calling he did, taking the time to explain that he never thought Mikaela would actually date his best friend, and that by showing disdain for her, he had hoped that it would rub off on Sam. After that it was relatively smooth sailing.

Looking at her now, Miles couldn't help but think she was even scarier than the blender that had attacked him. His mom hadn't raised a fool; he knew best not to trifle with an upset woman.

"Better watch out, Kaela. I'm barely holding Mason back," Miles warned, putting a hand on Mason's collar.

Mikaela's glare got worse, and Miles found himself thankful that looks could not actually kill as the peeved off teenage girl started tapping her foot on the ground.

"Where's Sam?" Mikaela asked through gritted teeth.

"Nice to know you were worried about me, too, Kaela. Really heartwarming." Miles replied flippantly, immediately regretting that as Mikaela stalked closer. "Okay, okay, I'll talk!"

* * *

Ironhide grinned to himself as he walked towards the Prime, already comming Ratchet and telling him to go to the main hangar. He was certain Optimus would enjoy the sight of Bumblebee and Sam dancing just as much as he had. He paused outside the Prime's office doorway.

"Hey, Prime, I think you might want to see this." Ironhide said, Optimus' optics shifting from the datapad to his face.

Optimus vented softly, before putting the datapad to the side. He knew it best not to fight if Ironhide really wanted him to see something. Even if there was work to be done, the Weapons Specialist was rarely put off once he got an idea in his head. There'd been a few different times where Ironhide had taken it upon himself to literally drag Optimus out of his office to see whatever he'd wanted the young Prime to see.

Knowing this, Optimus stood up, and followed his soldier to the main hangar area. Ironhide stopped just outside the door where Ratchet was waiting for them, gesturing for the other two to enter first. They could already hear the loud music from inside, only Ironhide being able to recognize it as _Thriller_. Ratchet went in, followed closely by his Prime.

Bumblebee and Sam were still going at it, but by now they had garnered some fans. Epps and Fig were cheering Sam on loudly, while Will had Annabelle, who was dressed as a tiny Bumblebee, making it extremely easy to guess which side they were on.

The little girl loved the sight of two large dancing robots, laughing uproariously and clapping her tiny little hands together in a fit of joy. Will had a huge grin on his face as he held her and rocked her to the beat. It was rare that he could get his child away from both Sarah and Ironhide and have her all to himself. As it turned out, the Weapons Specialist was a _huge_ sucker for children of all species. Almost immediately he had gotten himself acquainted with Sarah, and the two seemed to be content that Will not get any time with his precious little daughter.

Ironhide turned on his holoform, appearing beside the Captain and snatching his child away. This left Will staring dumbfounded at his now empty hands as Annabelle giggled in the loving grip of her 'Uncle Hide'.

Ratchet and Optimus stood side by side, both grinning at the various funny sights before them. Bumblebee and Sam, Sam's cheerleaders, and then Will as he went about the hopeless task of trying to retrieve his daughter from the grasp of Ironhide.

"Between Sarah and Ironhide, Will really has no chance." Ratchet commented, optics conveying his amusement.

"Poor Will," Optimus nodded, "I might have to schedule some extra work for Ironhide so he's occupied."

Both then turned their attention to Sam and Bumblebee, Optimus grinning. "While this is unexpected, I can't say I'm not happy to see him taking this step."

"According to Ironhide, Epps said they've been at this since around eleven this morning. It's just past lunch time now." Ratchet looked at his Prime, grinning. "Bumblebee's won every single game so far."

There was a lull in the music, and both turned their attentions to the screen. Thriller had finished, and the scores were just now coming up. Fig cheered, but he was barely heard over Sam and Epps.

"Yes, I finally beat you! How do ya like me now?" Sam taunted, throwing a fist in the air in triumph.

"I do believe we may be having some trouble now if Sam will be getting used to his new body," Optimus said, sliding his battle mask down to hide his extremely evident humor at the scene before him.

"What do you mean?" Ratchet asked.

"He's with Bumblebee, and we already know they both pulled the hair dye prank on Epps, who thought Will did it and did the same to his Captain." Optimus said, glancing at his Medic. "Now they can both access the internet whenever they want and talk without others hearing them."

"_Slag._" Ratchet cursed as he realized how true everything his Prime said is. The only other thing he needed was the twins coming. Either set, though both would be worse.

Both watched as Bumblebee got fed up with Sam's taunting, and tackled his Charge to the ground, the two beginning to wrestle around. None of the humans seemed to notice the slight tremor beneath their feet, and Annabelle just giggled. Those robots were just so funny.

"Get 'im, Bee!" Epps cheered, knowing Sam had no chance now. He hadn't even learned how to fire his weapon, let alone fend off a playful Autobot Scout.

"Traitor!" Sam whined, before finding out something he had never known about giant alien robots from outer space, or his own body. He apparently had ticklish spots, which Bumblebee was more than happy to take complete advantage of.

* * *

Miles had just received a picture from Epps, and he looked at it, before grinning. Though he hadn't taken his phone to the base with him, he knew his number from memory and had given it to the soldiers. Which was a smart move if he was going to be receiving pictures like the one he had just got.

"See that mech on top?" Miles asked, showing the picture to Mikaela. "That's Sam."

Sam was on top of his Guardian, and appeared to be tickling him, while Ironhide and Optimus held down the Scout's arms so he couldn't escape. Sam still was the plain gray of their metal, deciding to get a paint scheme when he finally chose his alt mode. Will and Fig stood to the side, the Captain having a very happy little Annabelle in his hands, the little baby dressed as an adorable little Bumblebee. They could just make out Ratchet's legs to the other side of the humans, and Epps wasn't in it because they knew he was taking the picture.

"Is he tickling Bee?" Mikaela asked, blinking.

"I don't know," Miles' tone was unsure, "I didn't even think they could be tickled."

Both looked at the picture again, before looking at each other with a grin.

"When I convince Sam to let you over, we are so teaming up on him."

"Duh!"


	4. The war that would never be written down

**Chapter four**  
**The war that would never be written down**

* * *

Sam really wasn't sure where Bumblebee had managed to find that much multi-colored foam, but then again he never was one to question his Guardian. The Scout hadn't steered him wrong, yet anyway. It had only been a day since their now infamous dance off. Sam had just woken up to greet the day, and already it seemed like the Scout was attempting to get him offlined.

Sneaking into Ironhide's recharge center and putting bright pink foam in the mech's prized cannons right before he was due to get up and go to the firing range for practice, really? That was a one way ticket to the Pit, something Sam was now finding himself very aware of in his new body. Of course, Sam found himself going along with the idea anyway. It just sounded hilarious, and Bumblebee was way too persuasive. If it came down to it, the Scout would use the leaky optics on him, something Sam hated.

His best human friend was due back at any time of the day, but that was far from his processor as he sidled closer to Bumblebee, peering over the large crate they were hiding behind. Both watched as Ironhide made his way to the firing range, Will, Epps, and Fig following after him. The soldiers always enjoyed watching Ironhide blow things up, and the Weapons Specialist didn't mind the admiration over his skills.

They watched as Ironhide activated his cannon, and then aimed. There was an odd clicking noise, and Ironhide frowned. But, Ironhide being Ironhide, decided he'd have Ratchet take a look _later_ instead of now, and just shot away. Pink foam rained down all over the firing range, and there was shocked silence among the soldiers.

"Wow, Hide, that was beautiful." Epps finally said, snickering.

Ironhide snarled, whirling around and seeing Bumblebee and Sam peeking over the top of the crate. "Bumblebee! Sam! Get over here, now!"

Bumblebee grabbed his Charge's servo, before racing out from behind the crate and laughing. Ironhide gave chase, spraying the pink foam at them, and anything else that happened to be near them. The irritated Weapons Specialist didn't really care who or what got hit in the crossfire.

Bumblebee dragged Sam into the Medbay, and ducked behind one of the few berths. Ratchet, surprised into looking up from his work on Jazz's frame, stepped closer towards them to chastise them just as Ironhide ran in, spraying away. The poor medic got the pink foam all over his faceplates and chassis.

There was dead silence in the med-bay. Ratchet looked down at himself in shock, and Ironhide did the smart thing. He backed away before the medic snapped out of it, turned around and ran for his Spark. Bumblebee and Sam looked at each other in horror, both standing up immediately.

"We're sorry, Ratchet! Sam and I will clean up the me-" Bumblebee was saying in a hurry, knowing it best to apologize and offer clean up duty before the Medic got mad. He cut himself off when Ratchet waved a servo.

"Do you have any more foam?" The Medic asked, a dangerous glint coming to his optics.

"Yes," Bumblebee said, glancing at his Charge and sharing a look with him.

"Give me some. We're going to hunt down that poor excuse for a scrap heap."

Bumblebee and Sam grinned. It was rare for Ratchet to join in on the fun like this, but when he did, it was always guaranteed to be a blast. He had only done it once before, and Ironhide had spent a week in his alt mode because of it.

* * *

Optimus was worried.

It had been oddly quiet that day, and after the progress Sam had shown the day before, he had expected it to be the opposite. The Prime knew Ironhide had been scheduled to go to the firing range that morning, and he had yet to hear any of the telltale blasts or shouts of awe from the soldiers. Ratchet hadn't contacted Optimus about skipping out on his morning Energon, either.

He vented softly to himself. It was probably wrong when he actually dreaded the sounds of everything being okay and normal, when his underlings didn't order him around, and when there was no sounds of explosions. It made him wonder if Megatron had ever needed to deal with any of it when he was alive, but then again his brother had Starscream, who seemed to constantly be out to kill him. His Autobots were his Autobots, and in the end he couldn't really mind the crazy happenings. It certainly made things interesting.

Letting out another resigned sigh Optimus got up and left the room he had claimed as his office, and then the hangar it was located in. He stopped almost immediately, taking in his surroundings. Splatters of bright pink, neon green, yellow, and white were everywhere. On the sides of the hangars, on the road, on anything in between. Walking to the Medbay, he found massive amounts of bright pink near the front. That was when his comm system activated, getting a message from Ironhide.

_:Prime, I need help! The young devils and the Hatchet got me!:_

Well, that comm certainly meant Optimus had a good idea of what was going on, though the foam everywhere had already done a good job of that.

_:Where are you, old friend?:_

_:Inside the main hangar. Those fragging soldiers are laughing it up while your Medic from the Pit man-handles me!:_

That was an amusing mental image. Ratchet wasn't very good in battles, but in brute strength he was pretty evenly matched with even Ironhide. Medics naturally had to be strong to handle some of their more stubborn patients, which Ironhide often turned out to be.

Optimus quickly made his way to the main hangar, slipping in almost completely unnoticed. Despite his large size he could actually walk quietly, if he really wanted to, but at this point he didn't have to. Everyone's attention was anywhere but the door of the hangar when he stepped in.

The place was a mess. One huge over turned table, made for any needed Autobot conferences, was over turned on its side, while its twin was on the other side of the hangar, mirroring it. How they had even been made to fit through the hangar door Optimus wasn't sure. In between them stood Bumblebee and Sam, their frames shaking with laughter, as Ratchet literally attempted to drag Ironhide out from behind one of the large tables. The soldiers stood off to one side, hooting and cheering Ratchet on. Ironhide, however, wasn't making it easy on the medic, and was occasionally spraying him, and the soldiers, with bright pink foam.

"Just what is going on in here?" Optimus asked as he walked over to Bumblebee and Sam, "This place is a mess."

Bumblebee snickered, and Sam looked up at the Prime with a grin, before a new thought struck him. Smirking, Sam recalled the instructions Bumblebee had given to access his arm cannon and then fire. He then made another huge step into the acceptance of his body and his new place among the Autobots.

He shot Optimus Prime in the face with white foam.

* * *

Sam and Bumblebee hid behind a hangar wall. After Sam's little move, it had turned into an all-out war. Ratchet remained on their side, though they usually left him behind since Ironhide was gunning for the medic. Optimus was out for either Bumblebee or Sam, but was much more interested in Sam after his little stunt.

"You just couldn't hold yourself back any longer." Bumblebee started, surprising Sam as he peered around the wall with him.

Sam shot Bumblebee a look, worried their hiding place would be given away.

Bumblebee continued, undeterred. "You just had to shoot your white stuff in Optimus' face."

That made it click, his still completely human thinking easily caught on to what Bumblebee was teasing him about. He then became extremely amused, and slightly embarrassed. If he had still been human he probably would have ended up blushing.

"Bee!" He hissed at his Guardian, "Keep it up and you're next."

"_Checked my phone and I saw you rang, and I jizzed in my pants._"

Sam snorted, before spraying Bumblebee. It wasn't always a good thing to have a Guardian who got a kick out of teasing you. The young Scout said and did nothing in retaliation, he was laughing too hard.

* * *

Miles had sent Mikaela away on the promise that he would talk to Sam, or at least Bumblebee, to see if she could come. Judy and Ron knew a bit more about their son's condition, but not the whole entire thing. His parents now knew a lot more, though only what Will had directed Miles to tell them. So they were still in the dark about giant alien robots, but reassured of their son's safety. And now Miles was standing in the middle of the base, looking around the area in shock.

When Will had come to pick him up he had certainly seemed amused, though he hadn't thought anything of it. Not long after they had arrived, Will had ditched him, running for the safety of the soldier barracks. Miles could now see why Will had opted to hide, and why the soldier had been so amused.

The area had splatters of some kind of bright pink, neon green, yellow, orange, and white foam. Particular areas had more than others, like the Medbay, and the main hangar. It looked like some strange kind of war zone, and that threw Miles for a loop.

"Miles!"

He looked up when he heard his name called, seeing Sam grinning at him. Bumblebee waved from beside his best friend, and it looked like the two were attempting to hide behind a corner, though they were failing at it. Sam gestured for Miles to come to them. Ironhide growled from his hiding spot, though the mech remained hidden.

"Frag that!" Ironhide growled, "He's with us! You have the Hatchet on your side!"

"He's my friend!" Sam fought back, raising his cannon to where he heard Ironhide, and could just see the Weapons Specialist's helm.

Miles blinked, taking a moment to realize what was going on, before grinning.

"I've turned rogue, Sammie."

The next thing he knew, he was running from two separate jets of white and yellow foam aimed straight at him. He went to where he could see Ironhide's helm, nearly running straight into a crouching Optimus' faceplates.

* * *

In the end, a truce was called. Miles was the first to receive a kill shot, and then Ironhide had been taken out by Ratchet. Optimus took out Sam and Bumblebee, and then he and Ratchet had gone at it for a while. The Prime was fast and agile from the battlefield, but Ratchet did twin chasing, patient chasing, and a number of other things that made him more than enough to be the Prime's equal in a foam war.

They called it off when night fell for a number of reasons. They had, by then, run out of all the foam Bumblebee had. When Ratchet and Optimus went to the others, they saw that Sam had worn himself out and was in recharge, leaning against Guardian as Bumblebee kept an arm wrapped around him. Miles was nodding off on his friend's shoulder, and Ironhide had gone to get Energon, and a bit of food, for them all.

When Ironhide returned, Miles and Sam were woken up, and Bumblebee went to take Miles to bed. But first they had to make a detour, Miles instructing Bumblebee to take him back to where he'd been dropped off.

"Why, exactly, did you get this?" Bumblebee asked, carrying Miles in one hand, and a boom box in another.

"Mikaela dragged me to a yard sale to carry crap for her, punishment for not telling her about Sam in the first place, and suggested I get it. You can use it as an alarm to wake him up."

Bumblebee snorted, "We can try."

"Where do you want it?" Miles asked, grinning.

"You can have it in your room. I might see if Ratchet will make a few modifications first."

Miles nodded eagerly, though felt a little nonplussed. He had seen the boom box and had just gotten this overpowering urge to buy it, and he didn't really have a reason as to why.

* * *

It was happy. It was happy because its kind was happy, and because the boy had brought something back with him. Something large enough, but also small enough, that it could use. And once it had its body, it could get to work on bringing its kind together once more.


	5. Stealing and bullying are crimes

**AN: **Okay, here is the first real add on! I wanted to start working on this story more, but wanted to revise it so I just uploaded it to a completely new story.

**AN2: **There's a buttload of people who apparently like this story, but I'm selfish and I feed off reviews. Plus I could take suggestions on who to bring in. Jazz and Prowl is a definite, but otherwise it's whatever I feel like for awhile.

**Chapter five  
Stealing and bullying are crimes**

* * *

Miles slowly woke up to a heavy feeling on his chest, which wasn't unusual. When Mason had been a puppy he had allowed the Mastiff to sleep on him, and couldn't refuse his loveable canine even when he weighed a lot more. What was unusual was the fact that he could hear clicking and whirring, and that he knew he wasn't at home in his own bed.

Miles opened his eyes, staring into intense golden optics. He could barely make out a Cybertronian-esque figure, but much smaller and not as bulky. He tried to scream, but whatever was on his chest quickly shoved it's servos over his mouth.

"Hu-hush li-little baby, don't say a word," The thing on Miles' chest cooed brokenly at him, "Ma-make no noises, little one."

To say Miles was confused was the understatement of the century, but the thing on his chest seemed to take it as acquiescence, removing it's servos from his mouth. The thing leaned closer to his face, but Miles could feel it slip a servo under his pillow, and with a jolt he realized what it was after even as it pulled the Allspark shard out from under the pillow.

"Hey, that's not yo-mmf!" Miles tried to cry out, but the thing covered his mouth again.

He tried to sit up, but the thing was surprisingly strong, managing to keep the teen down without even trying. Miles watched with wide eyes as the thing slid apart its chest plates, revealing an empty Spark chamber. One of the few things he did know was that any living Cybertronian had to have a Spark, but this one didn't. It used it's free servo to put the Allspark shard in its empty Spark chamber, and Miles had to close his eyes against the bright light that filled it for a moment. When he opened them again, the thing on his chest already had its chest plates closed. The thing removed it's servo, and glanced at Miles, liking it was expecting the teen to try to talk again even after it had silenced him twice.

"Who are you?" Miles chanced, sitting up when the thing climbed off his chest.

"I-I have no name."

Miles frowned, "Where did you come from? Why didn't the others tell me about you?"

The thing pointed to where the Miles had placed his now missing boom box. Miles shifted enough to turn on the light, taking a closer look and noticing that it looked as if his boom box had transformed into a Cybertronian. That was just great.

"You need to give that doohickey back, it's not yours." Miles said with a sigh, figuring that the boom box robot appeared relatively harmless.

"I-It is _mine_," The boom box hissed, optics flashing a deeper gold, and making Miles withdraw his relatively harmless conclusion. Miles just stared at the angered little thing-little mech-on his bed.

"Frequency," Miles said, "That can be your name."

"Agreed." The tiny mech, now Frequency, nodded.

"Wanna tell me what you're trying to do here, Frequency?"

"Until, until all are one, little one." Frequency hissed, narrowing his optics at the organic, "My kind has been torn apart. Must be one, must be one."

"Riiight," Miles drawled incredulously, "How do you expect to do that? I don't think there's even any Decepticons on Earth."

"One Decepticon, one to start with, but one is enough. One, one, one." Frequency chanted, sliding off of Miles' bed. "Come, little one, we must be off! Time cannot be wasted in unifying the future!"

"I'm fine here, thanks." Miles replied dryly, starting to wonder if he was just dreaming. He really hoped so.

Frequency turned around to face him, optics glowing. "Organic lay dead, and Frequency turn into Autobot to preserve organic's life. Organic is friend of yours."

"You're saying I owe you?" Miles asked warily. Frequency seemed to think that not only was the shard his, but that he was the shard. The tiny mech didn't answer, but by the way his optics glinted Miles could only take that as a yes. "Just let me put on my shoes."

Miles knew he was probably in way over his head, but then again he had been ever since the kitchen appliances had come to life in Sam's house. Only now he was fairly sure that Frequency wouldn't let him tell the others of his presence. He barely held in a groan, it was just his luck that he got stuck with a pushy little mech who was determined to unite the Autobots and Decepticons. Somehow he could just imagine anything that happened and went wrong would be blamed on him.

* * *

Even after Frequency left, Miles had found himself unable to sleep, half paranoid that the irratic little mech would come back to sit on his chest again. After spending an hour on his Ipod, alternating between playing apps and using the internet, he went out to get an early start on the day. Most of the foam had been cleaned up by Ironhide, the mech put on clean up duty as he had been the one to get Ratchet in on it.

Miles met Optimus his second time around the base, the young Prime a naturally early riser, and both decided to go retrieve Sam and Bumblebee before heading to the cafeteria for three Energon cubes and human food.

"Sam?" Miles called into the room, peering into the still dark recharge room from his place on Optimus' servo. Sam didn't have his own recharge room, but didn't have a problem sharing one with Bumblebee. The only one who suffered was Optimus', his birth being moved into Bumblebee's room so the two could share it while he got Bumblebee's tinier one.

The call woke Sam up from his recharge, and blurry blue optics blinked at the hangar ceiling tiredly. Both Miles and Optimus watched as Sam seemed to completely forget that something had woken him up, instead noticing that Bumblebee was still asleep and focusing on that like a starving dog would a bone.

Sam made a small noise of glee, surprised to think that he had managed to wake up before Bumblebee, and had the pleasure of waking his Guardian up for once. Sitting up, he maneuvered enough to place his legs on either side of Bumblebee's hip struts, and then proceeded to tickle the crap out of the Scout. Bumblebee onlined immediately, but was unable to fend off the quick servos of his Charge, though he got the upper hand when he rolled them both over, placing Sam firmly on his back and turning the tables as he quickly had Sam begging for mercy under his own talented servos.

"It's nice to know that there's some kind of weird robot tickle porn going on whenever you two wake up, but I do not need to see it before breakfast." Miles deadpanned, drawing the two mech's attention away from each other.

Bumblebee shot off of Sam immediately, grinning as sheepishly as a giant alien robot could as Sam slid off the berth himself.

"Good morning, Optimus, Miles." Bumblebee greeted, standing at attention to greet his Prime.

"Good morning, Bumblebee." Optimus replied, optics glinting with amusement. "It is good to see you online as fast as ever."

"_Go from zero to sixty in 3.5_," Bumblebee played Rihanna in answer, Sam reaching over and smacking the mech's shoulder.

"I told you no femme singers for a week!" Sam growled playfully, Bumblebee immediately taking to sulking.

Miles blinked, "Femme?"

"Our term for females," Optimus was the one to tell Miles, Sam and Bumblebee too busy with their mock fight. "Like we would refer to you as a mech."

"Oh." Miles replied, torn over how to feel about his best friend's usage of the word. He knew it was good that Sam was assimilating enough that he'd started to use more of their words, outside of Primus and the occasional frag or slag. He was just waiting for Bumblebee to start teaching Sam how to speak Cybertronian, and somehow he knew that'd be when Sam was more Autobot, more Cybertronian, than human. He could only be thankful that Cybertronians and humans were similar in most ways; otherwise he'd lose Sam completely.

The four walked to the cafeteria, Bumblebee and Sam lagging behind as Bumblebee played various femme singers over his radio to irritate his Charge. By the time Bumblebee hit the Pussycat Dolls, even Miles was wishing he was big enough to slap the mech over the back of his helm. As it was, Sam pulled the Scout into a head lock just as Ratchet and Will stalked over to the group.

"My tools are gone!" Will cried, Ratchet stopping beside him.  
"And my medical supplies!" Ratchet snarled, "Someone's been into the Energon supply, too!"

"Now, calm down the two of you, and tell me the last time you saw them." Optimus ordered.

"I was using my tools on Jazz just yesterday before Ironhide came in spraying that foam everywhere," Ratchet vented harshly.

"I was working on the door Sam ended up breaking in his holoform," Will added, arms crossed and a sour look on his face. One of the first times Sam had used his holoform he hadn't gauged how much stronger he could be, and had torn a door right off the hinges. "I left my tool box under it so they wouldn't get hit by the foam."

Ratchet picked up after Will finished, "We thought other things might have been taken, and we were right. One look in the cafeteria showed that the Energon dispenser was left hanging open, several cubes taken from within."

"Could someone sneak on to the base?" Sam asked worriedly.

"That is highly unlikely," Optimus replied. "Our sensors should have picked any intruders up. We have all of your organic signatures and each other programmed in so we just ignore them for all intents and purposes."

"So that means it had to be one of us," Sam pointed out, "Isn't that even more unlikely?"

Optimus nodded, venting softly. Fig and Epps would know better than to just take any of Ratchet's and Will's supplies without asking, and they'd have no need for Energon. Ironhide might take Will's supplies without asking, though him actually requiring human tools was unlikely, he already had his share of Energon that he got daily, and Ratchet made him fear for his Spark often enough that he'd know better than to snatch the irritable Medic's medical supplies. It was the same for Bumblebee as it was with Ironhide, though he didn't fear Ratchet as much, and Sam wouldn't have much of an idea on what to do with Ratchet's more advanced medical equipment, nor did anyone or mech think he'd take the things without asking.

Not a single finger was pointed at Miles, but the teen had paled anyway. He'd spent close to two hours helping Frequency collect all the items he'd demanded, and this included Ratchet's medical tools, Will's toolbox, and the Energon. If Optimus looked he'd also find a single datapad missing. Where Frequency had managed to put everything Miles wasn't quite sure, but it had all disappeared into something the tiny mech called 'subspace'.

* * *

That night, Miles wasn't woken up by Frequency sitting on his chest. Instead he woke up in midair as the tiny mech kicked him out of his bed, yelping and trying to grab on to the sheets to save himself. He hit the ground with a hard thump, groaning. Frequency peered over the side of the bed, blinking curious gold optics at the teen.

Miles glared up at him, "Organics easily hurt. Stupid tiny mech needs to be careful."

"No-not stupid!" Frequency hissed, puffing himself up. "Ignorant on unevolved organics."

"Well you're gonna need to learn, if you break me you're not gonna be able to fix me, and that means you'd have to let the others know about you." Miles grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his back.

"Miles would not wake. Frequency woke Miles up," Frequency tilted his helm to the side, "If damaged turn Autobot. Simple."

"You will _not_ turn me into an Autobot!"

Frequency hissed again, "Turn into my kind is an honor. Honored other organic by doing it for him."

"Some honoring that was!" Miles shot back, and Frequency just looked at him in confusion. "Have you even though what he's had to go through? It'd be like you turning into a human."

"Un-unpleasant," Frequency twittered, "But interesting concept. Did not-did not think of it in that way. Consideration of other organics strength is improved. Make good member of my kind."

Miles groaned, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He still wasn't sure what to make of Frequency, but he'd been convinced of the mech's power.

"Miles needed, must come, must come." Frequency chattered, hopping off the bed and grabbing Miles by his ankle, proceeding to try to drag him out.

"Let me get dressed!" Miles cried, trying to grab on to the leg of the bed.

"Shoes in subspace," Frequency cooed gently to reassure the teen.

"But I need my pants!"

* * *

Miles probably shouldn't have been so surprised that Frequency knew how to hot wire a car, or that he knew how to drive one and how to navigate the desert without even turning the headlights on. It didn't make Miles worry any less though, since the tiny mech could barely see over the steering wheel, and he wasn't even sure how he managed to reach the peddles. He could just tack on aiding in the theft of a non-sentient vehicle to the list of crimes he'd committed because of the mech sitting in the driver's seat.

Frequency had apparently taken Miles' words to Spark, and had looked up at least a little something on organics, which then led to him ordering Miles to sleep. Miles had looked at the tiny mech incredulously, but when Frequency had started to coo some kind of lullaby, even despite the fact that Miles was wide awake now, it hadn't taken long for the teen to fall right asleep.

When Miles next woke up the vehicle had come to a stop, and he couldn't see Frequency inside of it anymore. Peering out one of the windows he saw the tiny mech circling a police cruiser and chattering away. He opened the door and climbed out of the vehicle, moving closer to Frequency as the mech came around to the front of the police cruiser.

"Did-did good job, yes?" Frequency asked, looking at Miles.

"Huh?" Miles asked, peering at the police cruiser. He'd not even noticed the car was damaged until Frequency had asked him yet, "Yeah, good job."

What he did notice was that the police cruiser seemed to be shaking and growling. Miles watched it warily, glancing down at Frequency.

"Good job done," Frequency nodded proudly, before climbing under Barricade and adjusting something before climbing back out. He'd trapped the Decepticon in his alt mode to make it easier to work on him. "Collect and return borrowed items. Bring Barricade to base and make Autobot."

"What did you just say?" The police cruiser, Barricade, growled in warning, transforming immediately now that he had the ability.

"Excuse you?" Miles asked, blinking down at Frequency. "It's not gonna be that easy. You can't just bring him to base and expect everything to be honkey dory."

"Bring-bring Cybertronian to Cybertronians. Dory honkey, all is one. Bring to base; bring to home away from home." Frequency replied, optics glinting stubbornly. "Sam Autobot, others Autobot, Barricade Decepticon, but all is one."

"Oh, yes," Barricade snarled, leaning down closer to Frequency. "Do bring me to your little base so I can squash LadiesMan217 once and for all."

"You shut your mouth!" Miles growled, surprising Barricade as he stepped between him and Frequency. "You do not _threaten_ Sam."

"And what are you going to do about it, fleshling?" Barricade raised a clawed servo in a threatening manner, red optics glinting dangerously.

Frequency darted between the two before Barricade could bring his servo down, putting one servo on Miles' chest and the other on Barricade's chassis, sending a shock through the both of them. Miles cursed loudly and jerked away immediately, a memory entering his mind that didn't belong there.

"_Oh shit, oh shit!" Sam cried, running away from Barricade._

_The Decepticon gave chase without a second thought, determined to catch the organic and locate Ebay item 21153. A well placed kick sent the organic flying, calculated to a near perfection of just light enough but hard enough to crash the organic against the windshield of a car and crack it while simultaneously not actually damaging the organic._

"_It's a bad dream," Sam uttered in horror, staring up at Barricade as the Decepticon loomed over him._

_Barricade grabbed the front tire of the car Sam was residing on, popping the tire so it sunk lower to the ground before slamming his fist on it and getting even closer to the organic. The organic was young, not even an adult by his species' standards. He planned to scare Sam into telling him the location of the glasses, if he did then his kind probably wouldn't target the young organic, and even less likely to actually kill him. It would be better for all those involved, especially the organic himself, if he scared the location out of the organic._

"_Are you username LadiesMan217?" Barricade growled by way of question._

"_I don't know what you're talking about!" Sam cried._

"_**Are you username LadiesMan217**__?" Barricade repeated, shoving his face in closer to the organic as Sam stared up at him in fear. _

"_Yeah?" The organic ended up asking more than actually saying. Good, it meant he was afraid._

"_Where is Ebay item 21153? Where are the __**glasses**__?" Barricade slammed his servo on the ground again, but in the next moment Sam was scrambling over the top of the car he'd been kicked onto, desperately running away. Barricade snarled, knocking the car over that the organic had been lying on just moments before, then giving chase once again. _

Miles gasped, holding his head as the memory faded. Barricade seemed to be doing even worse, sitting on his aft with a servo clenching his helm as he growled. Frequency was the only one who seemed unaffected, standing and watching the two's reactions curiously.

"What the hell was that?" Miles hissed, turning wide eyes to Frequency.

"Fight bad," Frequency tsked, "Stop fight, share memories of organic Sam. Barricade no want to actually kill, and he saw some of your memories of Sam and the other 'bots, other 'bots. Create bond."

"What do you mean create bond?" Barricade growled, finally seeming to recover enough to glare at the tiny mech.

"Bond created, bond created!" Frequency chanted cheerfully, "No large distance between the organic and Decepticon or both start to hurt. Incentive for all to become one again. Autobots no want organic suffer because stubborn to accept a member of their own kind again."

Barricade's optics widened, processor trying to comprehend if the tiny mech was actually capable of doing something like that.

"No," Miles said softly, moving towards Frequency and looming over the tiny mech. "You do not do this to organic you stupid little piece of-!"

"Not stupid, not stupid!" Frequency twittered nervously, cowering away from the angered organic just a bit. "Remove bond when happy with results!"

"Remove it _now_." Miles snarled, poking Frequency in the chassis.

"No results, no happy. All is one." Frequency puffed himself up again, attempting to stare the teen down.

"Kill him, sit on him, do something!" Miles whirled on Barricade, glaring at the Decepticon as if it were his fault.

"Thanks for telling me what I already thought of, fleshling." Barricade growled, "That little glitch has me locked in stasis again. I can't do much more than shutter my optics."

"Not stupid," Frequency hissed, attempting to clarify this fact even more.

* * *

Sam woke up slowly unlike the previous morning, and took a moment to stretch, snuggling just a bit closer to the warmth beside him. It hadn't been that odd to just start sharing a berth with Bumblebee, he'd shared one with Miles plenty of times when they had sleep overs. The only thing that bothered him was that Bumblebee was a huge cuddler, and if Sam ever woke up from recharge at some random point in the night he'd often be so tangled up in his Guardian that he had no hopes of escaping. This didn't bother him as much as it used to, especially since Bumblebee generally made a point of being up first so Sam didn't have to fight his way out of the Scout's grasp.

"**EVERYONE UP!**" Ironhide's yell startled him, Bumblebee onlining immediately at his side and hopping off of the berth. "**DECEPTICON SIGNATURE NEAR FRONT OF BASE, REPORT TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!**"

The next few minutes were a blur of activity, the soldiers bustling about to find weapons, and the mechs heading to their stations at the front of the base. Optimus was first as Prime, Ironhide a little behind him to his left, and Bumblebee farther behind him to his right. Ratchet was even farther behind them, Sam halfway in between his Guardian and the Medic. The soldiers, despite being armed, were placed behind Ratchet.

A saleen police cruiser came into view, followed by an unmarked government vehicle.

"That's our car!" Epps exclaimed in surprise, and sure enough it was.

Barricade transformed when he got about fifty feet away, and the unmarked vehicle pulled to a stop beside him, Miles climbing out and followed by a tiny unidentified mech. Miles appeared to be missing his pants, but otherwise was completely fine if not a little stressed out and tired.

"Both of you keep your mouths shut," Miles ordered, glaring at Barricade and Frequency in turn, before turning around to face the Autobots, his best friend, and the soldiers he had slowly been coming to know. And he did it while trying to stand proud in his Superman boxers.

"This is Frequency, and this is Barricade." Miles gestured to the two mechs behind him, "You all know Barricade. Frequency is the boom box I now regret buying coupled with energy from the Allspark shard that I hid, something I realize I now should have turned in because otherwise I get woken up by this little bastard. He seems to think that he's to take on the will of Primus and unite the separate factions, which is all well and good, except now he's gone and gotten me involved. So, you all really only have one option, and that's to let Barricade stay on base. I don't care what the terms are, I kind of expect weapons removal and whatever other nonsense, but if you kick him out it looks like I have to go to. Frequency seemed to think it was a good idea to create a bond between us or some shit, so if we get too far away from each other it hurts."

"You want us to let _him_ on base just because this tiny mech wants us to? He tried to kill Sam!" Bumblebee growled.

Frequency looked up at the Scout, gold optics switching to a bright white. "He did not try to kill Sam, he tried to scare Sam with minimal damage, and you just got in the way. By the way, set the transmission frequency to the constellation of Orion the hunter and you should reach Prowl, possibly the twins if they haven't been chased off yet. And Ratchet, you'll finish work on Jazz's body in another week once those parts come in, but be careful when you use the shard to revive him because he'll go into battle mode and just start shooting. I'd suggest having him strapped down. Even if you leave Barricade's communication systems on, given the distance of the rest of the Decepticons he'd be unable to reach them without a boost, so you will not have to worry about him giving away your location. I've already turned off his weapon relays so he will be unable to use them. Oh, and by the way, don't hold that surprise party for Robert on Thursday. The liaison Galloway will be coming and will get a face full of confetti from Ironhide. He is not someone you want to upset."

A dumbfounded silence settled among those in the group as Frequency proved his capability and devotion to… whatever it was he was aiming to do by telling them all those things. Barricade just stood there, looking ready to kill, and Miles had a similar look on his face.

"No more questions?" Miles asked, "Good. I'm going to bed, and if anyone wakes me up in the next six hours they're going to die. Oh, and Frequency has all the missing stuff, though I think he gave the Energon to Barricade."

With that, Miles walked off towards the barracks, fully intent on doing just what he'd said. It had taken three hours for Frequency to bully Barricade into agreeing that coming to base would be good for him, even with the forced bond he had created between the Decepticon and the organic. He knew that Frequency would be able to make at least Optimus agree to accept him, even if Sam ended up avoiding the Decepticon like the plague. All Miles wanted to do was go lie in his nice comfy bed and try to pretend that none of it had just happened.


	6. Shopping for alt modes

**AN: **Gah, I can't get used to the new site layout. Everything's so squished together now! Sam's alt mode, just remove spaces:  svjsatterwhite. wikispaces .com Carss (or just google blue and grey 2009 mustang, should come up). Reviews are appreciated, and any suggestions on who else to bring in besides Prowl and Jazz are welcome.

**Reviews:** Thanks to those who reviewed! (_mizukikage, L WAS HERE, Ryen Selenity Caliburn, annebellelennox, Pyradeath, Californiagirl26, Totem Prime_)  
Pyradeath: Haha, Miles and Barricade is like my thing. I always end up throwing them both together for some reason. Glad you like it, and thanks for the cookie! :)  
Totem Prime: Conveniently enough, next chapter will be when Mikaela is actually just more than short little snippets. She would have been held off for awhile, along with Sam's parents, so he could assimilate into his new body easier without worrying about what they thought too much. Miles would have been too if he wasn't already along for the ride.

**Chapter six  
****Shopping for alt modes**

* * *

It was just a little past two p.m., and that morning Barricade had practically been dropped in their laps tied with a nice little ribbon, a present from a tiny mech who kept chattering on about making the two sides one again. Having Barricade around didn't mean they were going to stop their plans for the day though, and the Decepticon had already hidden himself away in the garage kept for the soldiers' vehicles. His weapon relays had been turned off, along with his comm system and his ability to go on the internet.

Two days prior Optimus had set it up with Keller that some off the road car dealership would remain closed for the entire day so Sam could go chose an alt mode. What the Secretary of Defense thought about being told that Sam was no longer human only he knew, and he had very limited information on how or why, but he'd been gracious enough to make a deal with the car shop owner so they could have the day to do it. Bumblebee would be going, as it was only natural, and Optimus would come along and take his trailer so Sam could hitch a ride in it and remain hidden from sight just in case.

Optimus now stood with his young Scout and the human-turned-mech in the main hangar, Sam looking at him curiously. Bumblebee already knew about the plan, but it had been a surprise for Sam.

"I had Secretary Keller arrange for a car dealership to remain closed for the day," Optimus said, "So you can have the leisure of picking out your alt mode, Samuel."

Sam grinned excitedly, "Cool! I'll go get Miles up!"

True to his words earlier that morning, Miles had gone straight to sleep and slept through both breakfast and lunch. Only Sam would be the one to dare and wake him after the mood he'd been in that morning. Frequency had followed the teen not long after, and when Ratchet had searched for the tiny mech to ask him something it appeared that he had transformed back into his alt mode, the boom box, and was recharging in Miles' room.

"Wait," Bumblebee stopped his Charge before he could leave the main hangar and make a beeline for the barracks. "His bond with Barricade, he can't go."

"What? That's not fair!"

"I am sorry, Samuel. We cannot bring him," Optimus said gently, but it didn't do much to help. Sam had already lost half of his excitement.

If Bumblebee and Optimus hadn't said anything, Sam would have completely forgotten about the bond. He was doing his best to forget about Barricade, he didn't want to think that his best human friend was connected to the Decepticon in anyway. Much less in a way that would hurt them if they were separated too far.

And now Sam was angry at the Decepticon. Barricade was keeping him from having a good time finding an alt mode with Miles, and that wasn't fair. The thought that he should blame Frequency and not Barricade, who hated the bond as much as Miles did, didn't even cross his mind.

* * *

Miles didn't manage to actually wake up until about an hour after Sam, Bumblebee, and Optimus had left. The teen had yawned and stretched, then grabbed his phone to check his messages. One from Ratchet saying what exactly he'd done to Barricade, so Miles could tell Frequency. A glance to the left revealed Frequency in his own alt mode, and Miles could have sworn the little mech was snoring. He decided to wait to tell him, figuring the hyperactive mech probably wore himself out.

He had two more messages, one from Bumblebee saying he'd gone with Optimus and Sam to pick out Sam's alt mode and apologizing about it, and one from Will saying that he, Epps, and Fig had gone with Ratchet to pick up the spare parts the Medic needed to finish fixing Jazz.

That meant Miles was alone on base with two Cybertronians, Ironhide and Barricade. That was just great, he didn't even get to help Sam chose his alt mode. The teen almost wished that Frequency was awake so he could attempt to choke the tiny mech, unlikely as that was at actually working. It was all Frequency's fault, and that was a fact. He wasn't sure which he found more disturbing, the fact that there were giant alien robots and his best friend was one, or that he had some connection to one that he didn't even know. After a moment of thought he decided it was definitely the latter.

After a quick shower and some fresh clothes, Miles left the barracks in search of something to do. He found Ironhide cleaning the weapons, and had been chased off when he tried to ask a question about one of them. The mech was mumbling something about having Decepticons on base and not being able to trust them. Miles would have been amused if someone or mech else was there too, and not just the paranoid Weapons Specialist.

The teen grabbed a bite to eat, already bored out of his mind. He texted Bumblebee and asked if they'd found Sam an alt mode yet, and that's when the thought hit him.

If he was bored, what about Barricade? He could at least text people and listen to music, go on the internet, or play games on his IPod. There was even a TV in the main hangar he could watch if he wanted to. Ratchet had said that they turned off the Decepticon's communication system, and his internet. Besides sleeping, what could the mech do? Miles doubted that if Barricade happened to go for a leisurely stroll that Ironhide would just let him, and it wasn't like the Decepticon could just leave.

Feeling bad for the mech, Miles went off to find him. He thought that the mech might be in the cafeteria getting an Energon cube, or in one of the recharge rooms recharging, but his feet took him to the garage instead. Sure enough when he glanced inside he could see the Decepticon, and how creepy was that. Not only could they apparently not go too far from each other, but Miles could find the mech without even trying.

"Barricade?" Miles called softly, entering the garage and flicking on the light.

The Decepticon was sitting there in his alt mode, and Miles wasn't sure if he was asleep or not. He got no response even after he called a second time, and there was no reaction when he moved closer. It wasn't until he got close enough to touch the Decepticon's hood, slowly reaching out to gently do so, that Barricade reacted.

"Touch me and I'll kill you, Fleshling." Barricade snarled, flickering his headlights on and startling Miles.

"I have a name," Miles muttered, pulling his hand back and watching Barricade warily.

"And I do not care." The Decepticon growled, dimming his headlights again until the light was completely off.

Miles frowned, "Look, I was just trying to be nice and come offer you my IPod. Ratchet said he turned off your communication thingy and your internet, so I thought you might be bored."

"I do not need a simple organic device to keep me entertained."

Miles was close to telling the 'con exactly where he could shove it, but stopped himself. If he managed to make friends with Barricade, then it would be easier to get the others to make friends with him too. The sooner it happened the sooner he could have Frequency dissolve the connection between them.

Instead of leaving, Miles went over and sat on the workbench, leaning against the wall. He took out his IPod and started playing a game on it, making sure to turn the sound all the way up. It took ten minutes, but it eventually worked.

"What are you doing?" Barricade sounded exasperated, and Miles had to stop a small smirk.

"Sorry, wouldn't want to bore you with my simple organic device." The teen deadpanned, not even looking at the Decepticon.

Barricade growled, "Then turn down the sound."

"Make me," Miles replied flippantly. A second later Barricade had his holoform out, and was snatching the IPod out of the teen's hands. "Hey, give it back!"

"I'm turning the sound down," Barricade snapped, turning the IPod this way and that as he tried to figure out how to do so.

"Can't even figure out how to turn the sound down? Guess my simple organic device is more than a match for you. " Miles looked smug, "Good thing you don't want to use it, you'd never figure out how."

Barricade snarled, "Just watch."

And Miles did. For five minutes Barricade struggled to find the volume so he could turn it down and continuously failed. The teen wasn't surprised; he had counted on the Decepticon having no firsthand experience with 'simple organic devices'. He hadn't counted on Barricade being so stubborn though, he'd have to step in before the Decepticon actually managed to find it.

* * *

Sam looked worriedly between his Guardian and the car he had eventually ended up picking. It was a beautiful 2009 model, a blue and grey mustang. He'd already gotten used to the plain grey of his metal without paint, and had decided he didn't mind how it looked on him. The blue consisted of two stripes running down the middle of it were almost identical to the ones that Bumblebee had in his alt mode, one reason Sam had ended up picking the one he did. They wouldn't look exactly alike, but similar, and Sam had always gotten a big kick out of twin day at school. There was also a horizontal blue stripe running across the bottom edge of the doors.

"_Where _does my head go when I transform? _How_ do I see?" Sam asked again, and if he remembered correctly it was the fifth time he'd done so.

Bumblebee shot his Charge an amused look, "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you!" Sam protested immediately. He trusted Bumblebee completely, without the mech he'd probably have died during everything that happened with Mission City. It wasn't even his fault that Sam had died. The now mech was certain that if he would have been paying better attention and would have managed to spot the microwave before it got on him, and then screamed, Bumblebee would have saved him.

"Then do it," Bumblebee urged, patting Sam on the shoulder.

Sam drew in air through his vents, as close to breathing in deeply as he could get, and held it there as he scanned the vehicle, trying to make sense of all the information that came in. His paint scheme would automatically change, though how had flown right over his head when both Bumblebee and Optimus had tried to explain it. If he wanted different colors he'd have to get it custom done, and another mech would be needed to get all the places he couldn't reach. Almost immediately he was transforming down into the mustang, all the air he had trapped inside leaving as the metal on him shifted.

He panicked as he went blind for a moment, sensors coming alive that he hadn't even realized he had and fixing that. He knew where everything was, the sensors picking up Bumblebee and Optimus the easiest as they let off heat and were also Cybertronian, and then the other vehicles and various other things. It was an entirely different kind of seeing then what he was used to, and it made him panic even more.

When he panicked it triggered a sequence that would have normally been turned off once a Sparkling reached Youngling age, something that could be closely related to the instincts in a human. The sequence was a simple one, a protocol to get away from whatever was making him panic. But there was nothing solid making him panic, so the protocol overcompensated and just sent him shooting off away from Bumblebee and Optimus.

"Sam!" Bumblebee called in shock, watching his Charge tear off. "Slow down!"

"I CAN'T! BEE HELP, I DUNNO WHAT TO DO!" Sam sounded frantic, managing to figure out how to steer just in time before he crashed into a truck, but how to use the brakes didn't come as easily.

"Perhaps we should have taught him how to drive before letting him transform," Optimus said calmly, his Scout looking at him with wide optics.

"You think?" Bumblebee asked angrily, transforming himself and chasing after Sam.

Optimus watched with amused optics, letting Bumblebee chase after Sam. He knew the Scout would manage to stop Sam before he actually crashed into anything and hurt himself, so he wasn't worried there. The only thing he did worry about was Ratchet finding out, because he'd be blamed as leader for not thinking of it before Sam transformed. Hindsight was 20/20, but Ratchet didn't really care about that.

It took Bumblebee only a minute to catch up to his Charge, and another one to race up ahead, turn around, and then transform. Sam wasn't going that fast, he'd managed to slow down even if he didn't realize how, but he still didn't know how to brake. The Scout braced himself, planning to catch Sam and make him stop, calculating the easiest way to do it for Sam so he wouldn't hurt the human turned mech.

But Sam panicked again, not having time to steer around Bumblebee and not wanting to run into his Guardian, either. He transformed into his bipedal mode without even thinking about it, not counting for his momentum which then sent him flying into Bumblebee and knocking them both to the ground hard. They groaned in unison, Sam pushing himself off enough so he could roll over onto his back beside Bumblebee.

"Sorry," Sam apologized once he was on his back, glancing over at his Guardian. Bumblebee just sat up, waving the apology away. Sam grinned, "Can we do that again?"

Bumblebee rolled his optics, smacking Sam on his chassis and shoving him back down when he went to sit up. Sam laughed, shoving his servo away and sitting up.

"You look good," Bumblebee complimented, taking a moment to actually take in Sam's new look now that he wasn't worried about his Charge hurting himself.

"You hittin' on me, Bee?" Sam teased, nudging his Guardian in the side as he stood up. "Wonder what Kaela would have to say to that."

Bumblebee snorted, "I'd be more worried about what Judy had to say if I did."

* * *

The only ones not in the cafeteria for dinner were Frequency and Barricade, but no one or mech minded their absences that much. Only Miles really knew Frequency, and the little mech was still sleeping away, while the others weren't exactly going to welcome Barricade for a nice cube of Energon and a lengthy chat on the weather.

The mechs all sat at one of their tables, the humans pulling up some seats to sit with them. Ratchet was griping about how the organics had managed to get his order wrong, though Will had conned them into giving the replacements for free after the messed it up. Optimus told of how he had changed the transmission to include Barricade, and had then managed to contact Prowl using the information that Frequency had given him. Once the Prime finished, Miles took the opportunity to hit his fork against his glass.

"I would like to toast Sam for picking a kick ass alt mode, and officially call dibs on the first ride inside of him."

Epps groaned, "Dammit, I wanted to do that!"

"If Samuel is comfortable with giving rides he can fit more than one person inside of him," Optimus informed the two, raising an optic ridge.

"I don't want to ride with him!" Miles and Epps said in unison, before mock glaring at each other.

Sam snickered, "Sorry, Epps, Miles first. I owe him."

"Yeah, yeah," Epps sighed, "Don't let me get in the way of your bromance."

"I think you'd rather not get in the way, amigo." Fig grinned, "They got a bro-triangle going. Bumblebee and Sam, and then Miles and Sam. I might be steppin' in on that myself."

"Looks like Sam's getting all the men," Will taunted, smirking.

Laughter around the table as Sam groaned out a 'why me?', causing even more laughter. It was silenced almost immediately when Barricade walked in the cafeteria, five sets of optics and three sets of eyes watching him warily. Only Miles didn't seem to care and if Barricade noticed he didn't care either. He just walked right over and stopped in front of Miles. Miles turned around to face him.

"It needs charged." Barricade stated, looking at Miles expectantly and somehow managing to hold the teen's IPod between two claws.

"What are you doing with his IPod?" Epps blurted before he could stop himself, Will kicking him in the shin soon after.

"I didn't realize it was any of your business, Fleshling." Barricade growled at Epps.

"You can't go around calling all of us Fleshling, Barricade." Miles replied for Epps, gesturing to the three soldiers. "If you want the charger then you have to learn their names, preferably their titles too, and use them."

"Captain William Lennox, Sergeant Robert Epps, and Technical Officer Jorge Figueroa." Barricade said immediately in a monotone voice. "Sergeant Epps should keep his organic nose out of my business."

Miles blinked, "Wait, do you know my name?"

"Yes."

"Then use it!"

"_If you want the charger then you have to learn their names, preferably their titles too, and use them._" Barricade played Miles' voice with a smirk, and the teen just groaned. The 'con had won that round.

"Fine, it's in my room plugged into the wall near the bed. And _don't_ wake up Frequency, I don't feel like putting up with that crazy bastard yet." Miles said, glaring up at the 'con. Barricade immediately turned around and headed out of the cafeteria.

When Miles turned back around, he was being stared at by five Autobots and three human soldiers. Sam's optics were wider than he'd ever seen them, and Epps' mouth was hanging open, probably because he'd been singled out by Barricade for his comment. Outside of Epps' little comment none of them had said a thing, too surprised to get anything out.

"What?" Miles asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why does Barricade have you IPod?" Optimus asked, seeming to recover the fastest.

"Ratchet sent me a text saying you guys turned off his internet, and I thought he'd be bored." Miles explained, "So I went in to see him and eventually got the stubborn bastard to use it. And that was a lot harder to do then it should have been."

Sam growled, "You left him alone with Barricade?"

"I didn't know he'd go in and buddy himself up to the 'con!" Ironhide protested, as surprised by Sam growling as everyone else was. "I was going through the weapons!"

"Barricade could have seriously hurt _or_ killed him! You were supposed to be watching him!" Sam accused, glaring Ironhide down.

"I do not need a babysitter," Miles said dryly, "And as amusing as big protective robot Sam is, stop it. Barricade's all bark and no bite; he's not going to do anything unless it'll benefit him in some way. Killing me, while maybe getting rid of an annoyance, would most likely end up in his own death and he's not stupid."

"You do need a babysitter if you're stupid enough to go in and visit a dangerous Decepticon just because you're worried he might be bored," Sam retorted angrily, switching his glare to Miles.

"If I make friends with Barricade, then you have to make friends with Barricade. If you have to make friends with Barricade, then Bumblebee has to make friends with Barricade. Then it's only a matter of time before even Ironhide puts up with him," Miles explained, "The sooner that's done the sooner Frequency gets rid of this stupid connection and I can actually leave this base."

That shut Sam up quickly enough, because he probably would have done the same if he hadn't had any previous interactions with the Decepticon. Everyone and mech else could understand where Miles was coming from with that idea, though most of them didn't think it would be as simple as that.

"And since I'm getting my evil genius plans out in the open: I called Mikaela and told her that you'd be going to see her tomorrow now that you have your alt mode." Miles said this in a rush, darting out of the cafeteria as Sam processed that, making it out just before Sam exploded.

"_WHAT?_"


	7. Anticlimactic

**AN:** Mikaela comes in, finally! A lot in this chapter is rather anti-climactic, but then again when it comes to Sam I think that fits perfectly. Realizing that his car is in fact a giant robot who just fought, possibly to the death, another giant robot? Oh, let's get inside him! I want **_five_** reviews for the next chapter, and any suggestions on the first Decepticons I should bring in, besides Barry, would be appreciated!

**Reviews:** Thanks to those who reviewed! (annabellelennox, Mikaela the Cat, mizukikage, LdyGossamer)

**Chapter Seven  
****Anti-climactic**

* * *

William Lennox, Robert Epps, and Jorge Figueroa were soldiers, and as soldiers they naturally had to stay at the top of their game. Even if they could become lazy since the Autobots would do everything for them. Ratchet had started to prepare weekly exercise regimes for them to help. The Medbot stuck with the FITT principle of exercise; frequency, intensity, time, and type. The only thing that Ratchet didn't change up was that every morning before breakfast, the soldiers would go for a jog. Usually it consisted of circling the base a few times, because even with what little it had circling once was about just over a mile, but two random days out of the week they'd chose a direction and just run that way for about an hour.

And that was what Epps and Fig were currently doing, circling the base as they jogged side by side. Will had been taken home to spend the night with his wife and daughter, so their Captain wasn't with them. They alternated between trying to overcome one another and making playful comments back and forth to make the jog more interesting, or just talking about what the day would hold.

"How much do you wanna bet that Mikaela is going to kick Sam's shiny new ass?" Epps asked on the start of their fifth circle.

Fig shot his comrade a sour look, "Making bets with you is muy malo, amigo. We always lose somehow."

"Oh, come on!" Epps grinned, speeding up. "She's either gonna cry or try to kill him, which do you think it will be?"

Fig never got a chance to respond, the two coming to a stop when they say Frequency coming out of the barracks. The tiny mech was looking around with wide optics, and Fig thought he rather looked cutely confused. Epps just thought it was about time the tiny 'bot got up seeing as he'd slept for over a full day. Both men jogged over to the mech.

"G'morning, Frequency." Fig greeted cheerfully.

Epps was much more interested in things besides pleasantries, "You look confused, lil' 'bot."

Frequency turned gold optics to the two human soldiers, seeming to study them. Without knowing it, both started to think why Miles went along with the tiny 'bot so easily. He just seemed to exude this aura that was hard to describe. Something ancient, even more so than Ratchet and Ironhide.

"I-it goes slow, the progress being made, being made." The tiny 'bot commented, looking annoyed. The soldiers weren't quite sure if it was with the slow progress, or the fact that the mech couldn't seem to handle fluent speech.

"Well, you can't expect much right away, amigo." Fig replied, "They've been enemies for longer than our world has been around."

Frequency hissed, "Change to bring them apart comes fast, fast, fast. Change to end the war comes fast. Change to bring together comes slow. Why? The need for change to come fast is today!"

Epps and Fig shared a look, before Fig shrugged.

"What exactly do you want done?" Epps asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Transformed organic and Barricade civil." Frequency chirped pleasantly.

Fig snorted, and Epps elbowed him in the ribs. As if it would be as easy as those five little words made it sound. But there was just something about how wide Frequency's optics was, and how he was tilting his head, making him seem more innocent than could be possible. It'd be like refusing a starving puppy. One made out of metal with amazing capabilities, but a starving puppy none the less. It made them want to at least try to help, and they had nothing better to do.

That was when Epps caught sight of Miles, the teen looking like he was still half asleep if his messy hair and the way he only saw the ground was anything to go by.

"MILES!"

Miles appeared startled, looking at the trio a ways in front of him. The teen hadn't bothered to check if Frequency was awake and about or not, and he regretted that now. Two nights of being bossed around by the little 'bot and he'd thought he'd had enough of the mech to last him a life time. Didn't look like it would be that easy to escape him, though. He debated whether or not to just make a break for it, but trudged over to join the three as Epps waved him over.

"What?" Miles asked, yawning and looking them all over cautiously.

"Frequency wants Sam and Barricade to be friends," Fig answered, grinning. "He doesn't like your plan 'cuz it's taking too long."

Miles blinked slowly, and the three could practically see the teen processing these words. Then he looked thoughtful.

"I can get them having breakfast together but after that I'm out."

Miles received three incredulous looks, even from the mech who wanted the two being friends in the first place. The teen merely yawned again, trudged his way over to Bumblebee's and Sam's recharge hangar, and poked his head in.

"Oy, Sam, go get us a table! Then I'll give you a wash and you can go see 'Kaela!"

Mentioning Mikaela seemed to do the trick, because Sam was out of his hangar in a minute and making a beeline for the cafeteria. To say the human turned mech was nervous about seeing Mikaela was an understatement, and he'd been fretting about her reaction since Miles had mentioned the promise the day before.

Then Miles was shuffling his way over to the garage Barricade had claimed, and banging on the garage door.

"Oy, big black growly one! Get your ass out here so we can have breakfast!"

Epps and Fig looked on, torn between horror and amazement as Barricade slammed the garage door up with a loud bang and glared down at the organic that had the audacity to speak to him in such a way. Frequency just watched on in curiosity, noting that Miles was much more pliant and useful when he was half asleep and willing to do stuff just to be left alone. Or the part of his brain that stopped him from second guessing himself just wasn't awake yet.

* * *

When Bumblebee entered the cafeteria, the first thing he noticed was his Prime, Ratchet, Ironhide, two soldiers, and Frequency. That wasn't too surprising; it was the cafeteria and breakfast time after all, even if he had never seen Frequency inside of it before. What was unusual was the fact that all of them were pressed together in one corner, trying to make themselves invisible. The Scout would have laughed at the thought if he hadn't started worrying for their sanity instead. But he was waved over by Ironhide, so he went, careful not to tread too close to the soldiers or the little at their feet.

"Wha-"

He was shushed by Ratchet, the Medic pointing over his shoulder and making Bumblebee turn around. Barricade and Sam were sat at the same table, the human turned mech attempting to kill Barricade with a look. Miles sat at the table, too, but the teen seemed oblivious to the tension between the two. It was obvious that Miles was trying to ignore it, and hoping that by doing that he wouldn't have to put up with it.

Sam and Barricade knew they were being watched by literally everyone on base, but the two were much more intent on watching each other.

"What are you looking at?" Sam finally snapped, growling at the Decepticon in front of him.

Barricade sneered, "Your new paint scheme. It is so similar to the Insect's I almost want to purge my tanks."

"Are you making fun of me, or Bee?" Sam demanded, standing up and slamming his servos down on the table in an attempt to loom over Barricade.

If Miles hadn't shot a look over his shoulder, Bumblebee would have been over there in a millisecond and getting the Decepticon away from his Charge. But as it was, Optimus placed a servo on his shoulder, squeezing gently to calm the worried Scout down and to keep him in place.

Sam was angry. Angry at the fact that Barricade had the gall to just plop down right in front of him, angry because it would have been Miles who invited the Decepticon, and angry that he felt so powerless whenever he was near the mech. He knew that Miles was stuck on base because of a bond with Barricade that Frequency had created, and that his best human friend was counting on Sam to help get rid of that, but that made Sam angry too. Barricade just kept staring at him, looking amused, and that made Sam even angrier.

Sam's looming didn't work, because soon the Decepticon was standing up to match Sam's new height. The two glared at each other, both leaning in closer because neither was willing to back away. That would mean backing down, and even as they got so close that their faceplates were only inches apart, neither were willing to do that. Something had to give, but both sides were too stubborn. The air was so thick with tension that it made Miles shift uncomfortably, worrying for a moment that things wouldn't turn out okay.

If Sam had been so angry in his normal body, with a human, he would have pushed them, and he was close to falling back to that response with the Decepticon. That was when Sam realized he _wasn't_ helpless around Barricade. In his new form, albeit needing training, he could be an even match for the Decepticon. He wasn't something the mech could squash with a step of his ped, he could push and shove Barricade, punch him. More importantly he could defend himself, he wasn't a tiny and weak little organic anymore.

Maybe that was what made Sam relax, or the following realization that Barricade already knew this, could see it in the mech's optics, and even if he had been an organic still he always had Bumblebee there for him. But even without that, Barricade wasn't a threat. The mech was just as interested as surviving as anyone else he knew, and even threatening him wasn't a way to do that.

It helped that Barricade relaxed when Sam did, and Sam realized that the Decepticon had only become tense after he did. The Decepticon had only been responding to Sam's reactions, ready to fight because he was.

"Both." Barricade said finally, and if there was any weariness in it that was only because he was testing to see if the turned mech would overreact again or not.

Sam glared, but this time halfheartedly. "Better than your tramp stamp 'To Punish and Enslave'."

"If that was meant to be an insult, the fact that I do not know the meaning makes it lose its effectiveness." Barricade pointed out dryly.

"Not my fault you're ignorant about the planet you're living on." Sam responded, sitting down.

"No, it's your Medic's fault for turning off the one source I had to find out quickly." Barricade agreed, taking his seat again as well.

"Ratch, you really should give him his internet back." Sam said, glancing over at the surprised Medbot. "It is a bit unfair leaving him to just use an IPod."

Sam was stared at with optics wide in disbelief, and not just from the Medic in question.

Barricade snorted, "Finally, someone on my side who isn't the Fleshling."

"I have a name!" Miles huffed, giving the Decepticon an irritated look. "Keep it up and I'll never use yours, either."

"Big black growly one isn't that bad. Oh, and it's aft, not ass. If you're going to be hanging around us you should learn our terminology." Barricade corrected the teen for his earlier mistake, looking smug all the while.

Sam snorted, and Miles just let his face slam against the table top with a groan, refusing to look up again. Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Bumblebee all shared equally confused looks at how easily the situation had diffused, and Epps and Fig just looked at Frequency. The little 'bot looked entirely too happy at this new development.

* * *

Barricade wasn't stupid. Far from it, in fact. He knew when being closed off was a good thing, like how it had been on the Nemesis. There were few he could trust or be open around in the Decepticon ranks, even Frenzy, the mech who was supposed to have his back. Here on the Autobot base being closed off would be seen as bad, if he kept hidden away he could be seen as plotting. That didn't mean he had to go and pour out his Spark and befriend every last little pathetic Autobot, but it did mean he wasn't too rough with the organics, and even allowed LadiesMan217 to get over his fear of him.

Yes, he knew Sam had a problem with him, that much had been ridiculously clear. Even if Frequency hadn't made sure to show Miles that he meant his friend no harm, Barricade would have only assumed Sam would fear him. It was logical. However, in his new body, Barricade realized that given time Sam could easily become his equal, though he'd never say such a thing allowed. It would be easier to assuage the human turned mech's irrational fears then be humiliated in such a way later on.

It also helped that if he could get on with the turned mech, he was a step closer to getting rid of his 'leash'. It hadn't taken Barricade long to realize that a bond really had been created between himself and the organic, though whether everyone and mech else actually believed Frequency could do such a thing or not wasn't his problem.

The Fleshling unnerved him, and Barricade didn't like that feeling. After he left the cafeteria the night before he had heard the Fleshling's response to Sam, explaining that if he befriended Barricade then Sam would eventually be led to do the same, and he could get rid of the connection quicker. That Barricade could understand, and quite easily at that, since he was attempting to do the same thing. But there was more to it than that.

The Fleshling was extremely intelligent, extremely observant, good at guessing, or a mixture of all three. What unnerved the Decepticon is he didn't know which or what combination. Out of everyone on base, the Fleshling was the one he knew the least about, and that was even with knowing him from researching Samuel James Witwicky. Barricade did not like that. It bothered him that the organic would even bother to think that he might be bored, and he knew without a doubt it was before he realized that helping Barricade not be bored would be a step closer to getting rid of the bond, which meant the teen just did it on his own without any outside motivation. And how the Fleshling had goaded him into using his IPod in such a way that Barricade actually fell for it, and then didn't see the sense in telling him off. Then there was this morning, when the teen had the audacity to not only call Barricade in such a demeaning manner, but to be demanding about it too. He wasn't quite sure what to think about the Fleshling, and he was thankful that he had managed to avoid much contact with the organic soldiers.

Until now, that is. The Fleshling had agreed to wash Barricade instead of Sam, while Bumblebee washed Sam in his stead, so Barricade was sitting outside, waiting for them. It seemed that as soon as Sam became accepting of his presence, the two organic soldiers on base were ready to do the same, and had come over to join him, sharing a look. A look Barricade didn't like.

"Since Ratch hasn't turned on your internet yet, we'd be willing to help you figure out anything you needed to know about Earth, amigo." Fig said pleasantly, coming to a stop a safe distance away from the 'con.

Barricade eyed the two, wondering just what amigo meant. He was unwilling to ask.

Epps grinned, "No objections? Then we'll start with the basics. How to tell between femmes and mechs of the human species."

"I know full well how to tell the difference," Barricade replied dryly, sounding bored.

"Really?" Epps asked, "Then how?"

"A femme's chest is fatter," The soldiers snorted, and Barricade tried not to growl in irritation. He hadn't come to Earth to learn about the local wildlife and how to tell the sexes apart. He tried to make his point, "LadiesMan217 used to be an organic mech, you're both mechs, the Fleshling is a mech, and the 'Mikaela' mentioned is a femme. Her chest is fatter."

"Some femmes can have flat chests; some mechs can have fatter chests."

"I hardly see how me knowing the difference is useful," Barricade growled.

"Weeeeell," Epps drawled, "The Fleshling is a femme."

"The Fleshling is a mech."

"Femme."

"Mech."

Fig grinned, "Who's gonna know better? Us, or you, amigo?"

Barricade glowered at the two organics, unsure to take their words at face value or not. He didn't see why they would lie to him, they had no reason to. The Decepticon was irritated, he'd not known much about the genders, but he'd at least assumed the one's he thought were a certain gender were correct assumptions. Why did organics have to be so difficult?

"There's only one sure fire way to tell between a mech and femme with us," Fig said placatingly, "Check between the legs. Mechs have something you'll feel right away and femmes don't."

"You organics go around feeling each other between the legs?" Barricade asked before he could stop himself, curious.

"Oh, yeah, man!" Epps grinned, "We do it all the time. Like how you guys do those sensor thingamabobs."

Barricade stared at the two soldiers silently, and the others finally decided to show up. Sam drove up, already in his alt mode for his washing. Bumblebee walked up in bipedal mode, holoform out and beside Miles, helping the teen to carry some buckets full of water, soap, and sponges. Sam still had trouble using his holoform and main body at the same time, so he wasn't helping.

"Hey," Sam greeted cheerfully, "What're you guys talking about?"

"We're just schoolin' Barricade here on the ways of Earth," Epps replied, both of the soldiers keeping their faces neutral.

Miles snorted, "'Bout time he learns. Can you get it so he stops calling me Fleshling all the time?"

"No." Barricade vented, getting out his own holoform.

The Decepticon, in holoform, moved over to the teen. Miles assumed he was coming to grab a bucket full of water so he could wash himself, but he was wrong. Barricade ignored the bucket that was proffered to him completely, getting into Miles' personal space instead, and reaching down between his legs.

The sound Miles made could only be defined as a squawk, going from a low pitch to an extremely surprised sounding high pitch. Fig's hand flew to his mouth in horror, eyes wide as Epps was desperately trying not to laugh at his side. Sam and Bumblebee were floored, but neither were as surprised as Miles.

"I told you he wasn't a femme," Barricade growled, turning to glare at a horrified Fig and a thoroughly amused Epps.

"Ah, dios mío! Lo siento, Miles!" Fig said quickly, waving his hands. The Spanish speaking soldier explained everything as quickly as he could, "We didn't think he'd do it! It was meant to be a 'welcome to base!' joke! We said the only sure fire way to tell the gender was feel between the legs, and Epps said you weren't a man because we didn't expect Barricade to believe us, but he _did_, and lo siento!"

Epps couldn't help it, the look on Miles' face combined with the pure look of irritation on Barricade's at having been duped was too much, and he started laughing. Up until Miles recovered enough to get angry, splashing both the soldiers with the water in his bucket, and then taking aim at Epps with it. Epps just barely managed to duck to avoid being hit in the face.

"Let's see you get manhandled and then laugh about it!" Miles hissed, glaring at the two soldiers.

Fig looked apologetic, but Epps looked far from it, once again trying to hold in his snickers. Barricade was just content that he wasn't receiving any of the blame for whatever was going on, though he didn't much see what was wrong. He still had a lot to learn.

* * *

Sam was at the area in Tranquility designated as the Look Out, where Optimus had sent his first message into space while he and Mikaela had made out on Bumblebee's hood. The human turned mech idled there, enjoying the feel of the sun and trying not to freak out too badly. Bumblebee had driven with him, but had opted out of his meeting with Mikaela, saying he was going to get Miles' homework so the teen had something to do besides try to strangle Epps and Fig. More so Epps, because Fig had been sincerely apologetic.

By the time Mikaela pulled up on her moped, Sam had entered a light recharge. He woke up quickly when he heard the moped turn off, activating his holoform almost immediately. He'd grown used to the way his processor worked for the most part by now, activating his holoform almost as easily as he would consciously stopping breathing so he could hold his breath. He still had a bit to go on transforming between bipedal and alt mode, but even that was getting easier.

"I'm breaking up with you, Sam." Mikaela said sternly, but her eyes were soft. "You've been gone for how long and haven't called me _once_. I had to rely on Miles for information."

Sam couldn't help it, he laughed in relief. Count on Mikaela to find a way to break up with him so it wouldn't be because of… recent developments. He knew she had been playing peace keeper with his parents to keep them from overreacting, because they only knew the bare minimum of what had happened yet.

"You're amazing, 'Kaela." Sam said in awe.

Mikaela grinned, flipping some of her hair back behind her shoulder. "Tell me something I don't know, Sammie. Now pop the hood, I want to take a good long look at you."

"Yes ma'am."

It wasn't what Sam had been expecting at all, but then again Mikaela never was. Everything today had been rather anti-climactic, like the realization with Barricade, and now this meeting with Mikaela that surprised him so. Countless times before the girl had surprised him, and it looked like she would continue to do so. He dissolved his holoform, popping his hood like he had been ordered. But without noticing, he tensed up.

"Relax, it's only my first time inside of you." Mikaela smirked, the insinuation in her voice more than obvious. Sam revved his engine in laughter.


	8. Progress in Spades

**AN:** Sam's parents find out their son is a mech, and Bumblebee and Barricade do their best to play nice, no matter how awkward it is for them to do so.

**Reviews: **Thanks to all who reviewed!

**Chapter 8  
Progress in Spades**

* * *

Had Sam still been in possession of a heart, he was sure it would have burst from all the different emotions he was feeling. He was so nervous, had he been human his hands would have shaken, but as it was he had to content himself with pacing in his holoform as his mech body sat in alt mode. Mikaela sat on his hood, watching him with amusement and some minor degrees of worry, knowing exactly why he was freaking out, and knowing why she couldn't just try to comfort him.

His parents were coming. He knew, _knew_, that this confrontation would have to come eventually, had been dreading it a thousand times more than the one with Mikaela and had spent some time thinking about how his parents might react, but he wasn't prepared in the least. Mikaela had told him while poking around in his engine, something that ended up tickling a lot more than Sam would have thought possible, that his parents were due to follow her instructions, delivered via text message, to come to the Look Out within an hour.

It was obvious that his parents wouldn't have spent forever waiting for answers, especially someone like his mother, but he still had ended up freaking out, backpedaling so fast away from Mikaela she almost face planted in the grass. He was slightly surprised Judy and Ron had been taking whatever crap Mikaela and Will had been feeding them for as long as they had. Knowing his mother and her sometimes freaky sense of mother's intuition, neither actually bought the explanations as to why their son wasn't coming home or talking to them.

He wished Miles were there. The boy somehow always knew the best way to bring some comedic relief to any situation, had even helped Sam when he'd first been freaking out over waking up a mech, and he and Sam were so close that Judy and Ron were practically a second set of parents to Miles. Miles certainly knew the two a lot better than Mikaela, even if Mikaela was amazingly wonderful at running damage control.

"Sam, you're gonna pace your way to China if you keep up that same line any longer." Mikaela chastised gently, shifting on his hood, a hand sliding down the smooth finish to admire it. It wasn't as odd to feel her that way as he thought it should have been, but then again it hadn't felt that odd when Miles had ridden inside of him for about a minute, either. That he could at least be thankful for.

"I wish," Sam muttered, and had trouble convincing himself it wasn't desperately near a whimper.

"They're your parents, Sam. What do you think they're gonna do?"

"I don't-" Sam cut himself off, seeing a car in the distance, one he easily recognized as his parents'. "Oh, Primus, they're coming!"

Mikaela hopped off of Sam's hood, walking over to the holoform of the boy she had just recently been dating. She was slightly happy they had been already drifting apart; she might have freaked to still be completely in love with a Sam that was now a giant robot, even if he didn't technically count as a giant alien robot. She still loved him, Sam was very important to her, but that love was turning less romantic and more brotherly. Despite how much she'd changed from her shallow popular girl days, she was still very much that girl, and did still love the bigger men, and she'd always been attracted to jerks. Poor Sam could have never been that, too nice for him to ever be mean. And he'd been head over heels for her for the longest time, according to Miles. But that had changed too, Mikaela could tell. She wasn't sure when, but she just knew it had. Besides, they were teenagers. Their relationship had never been very serious in the first place, more caused by adrenaline rush and Mikaela's want to rebound with an actual nice guy coupled with Sam's crush on her.

Mikaela slid beside the fretting holoform, slipping her hand into his and giving him a reassuring smile. Right now Sam needed all the support he could get, and it didn't matter how Mikaela was trying to classify her feelings for him, if he was more of a brother or a lover to her. He just needed her, and she'd be there for him, because she did love him, even if she couldn't quite put down how anymore. Sam instantly squeezed her hand, harder than he ever had before, but still not enough to hurt her. Even now he was aware of his change, of how he could easily hurt her, and he wouldn't allow himself to do that ever.

Within seconds the car pulled to a stop by Sam's alt mode, Judy and Ron stepping out and rushing over to the holoform. Mikaela did a polite step back and to the side, allowing the little threesome their family reunion. Judy and Ron hugged their son in unison, Sam doing his best to hug the both of them at the same time, the whimper finally escaping him. He was terrified of their reactions, but he'd missed the both of them so much. Had they known from the beginning both would have been a huge help in his acceptance of himself. If they accepted him, that is.

Judy was the first to pull back, a contemplative frown on her face as she gave the holo of her son a once over. "What happened?"

"W-what do you mean?" Sam asked nervously.

"Sammie, I'm your mother." Judy crossed her arms over her chest, giving her son a pointed look. "And I know your body better than you do. The tiny scar behind your left ear is missing, and I'm sure that if we undressed you the collection of angel kisses right near-"

"Okay!" Sam yelped, cutting his mother off. It had been bad enough when Mikaela had to sit through the 'happy time' talk. She didn't need to know where he had a collection of freckles, too.

"And we're not stupid, Sam." Ron picked up from where his wife left off, "We come home to find the kitchen practically destroyed, and the yard a mess. You and Bumblebee nowhere in sight, not to mention when we tried to call Miles his phone was off. It was obvious _something_ happened, and then both Miles and Will tell us some half assed story? The weird alien object making our kitchen come alive we can believe, since we needed to buy new appliances, but why we couldn't see you, why Miles could only spend a day before heading straight back? Load of crock, that was."

"Promise me you won't freak?" Sam asked, sounding slightly helpless.

Judy and Ron looked at each other, before looking back at their son. There was the sound of a transformation beside them, but both had already seen Bumblebee transform and neither bothered to look. If it was a new 'bot the introductions could wait. Judy had known something was off about her son's body, but she was just as surprised as her husband when Sam disappeared from in front of them. But the only way he could do that is if it had been a holoform the whole time, something Bumblebee had shown them and had even used to help with the chores.

"I-I know it's surprising," Both Ron and Judy turned to look at the mech speaking to them, sounding like their son but at the same time different. It was Sam looking down at them with worried optics, kneeling so he could try to match his parents' height better, explaining how the piece of the Allspark had brought their kitchen alive and Sam had retrieved it, but been killed by one of the drones created by the shard, so it brought him back as a mech.

Once he finished he waited nervously for their reaction, unable to stay still. Mikaela came around to his knees, leaning against a large leg and putting a comforting hand on it. The holoform materialized again, looking so nervous he was on that thin wire thread where a single dip could set him off crying.

"Oh, Sammie, you're our baby boy! Even if you're taller and weigh more than the both of us combined now, at least you're alive! We'll always love you, you'll always be our little boy, be it big robot little boy or a little organic man." Judy reassured, grabbing the holo and giving her son a tight hug that way.

Ron just nodded; Judy was the one who was good at the touchy-feely stuff. "Now get back in your alt mode. We have to make sure you picked a good one."

"I think it's cute how you kind of match Bumblebee's design," Judy looked the bipedal form of her son over thoughtfully, watching as he obediently transformed down into his alt mode.

Both parents took a moment to admire the alt mode of their son, ignoring how incredibly weird it was to think of it that way, because if it was their Sam then it was their Sam, no matter how he looked on the outside. Like Sam, his parents were good at accepting the odder things in life, even if this included their baby boy being turned into a giant robot. He was alive, that was all that mattered. Later on, in private perhaps, they could worry over what this would mean for him, for them as a family, and secretly curse him ever meeting the Cybertronians, meaning only half of what they would say because they knew Bumblebee would have never allowed it to happen had he been able to stop it. After Mission City the Autobots were a permanent part of Sam's life, one they could never ask him to change, or force him to, either. It just made them even more thankful for Bumblebee being his Guardian.

Judy went over to the driver's side, the door popping open for her in invitation, and she slipped inside, relaxing in the seat that seemed to immediately adjust to better suite her comfort, placing hands on the steering wheel and glancing around the interior. Ron and Mikaela wandered over to peer in the open door to where she was sitting.

"I'm inside of my son…" Judy patted the dashboard in a loving manner, "This is even kinkier than I thought it would be."

"MOM!"  
"JUDY!"

* * *

Miles looked at the picture Mikaela had sent him for the third time, knowing there was a stupid grin on his face, but not caring enough to wipe it off. Both Judy and Ron were sitting inside of Sam, Judy in the driver's seat, and the two appeared to be bickering back and forth. Mikaela had bothered to include they were fighting over whether or not Sam should have fuzzy dice hanging from his rearview mirror. It seemed that Judy might take to bedazzling her son, just like she had done to poor Mojo.

The grin faded as the happiness for his friend wore off, Miles shifting on the bed that had once belonged to Sam, laying on it so he could look at the ceiling as he tossed his phone up in the air and caught it, thinking. Would he be needed any longer?

Sure, there was Barricade, but the biggest hurdle had already been taken. Sam was willing to give him a chance and be friends with him and Bumblebee, Epps, and Fig were already treating the 'con better because of that. Frequency had bonded Miles to him to ensure that Barricade wouldn't leave, but Miles doubted he would. The 'con was interested in survival, and with the 'bots he had a larger chance. Besides, now the Autobots knew Barricade was in fact alive. If he left that would make him an enemy again, and he would be targeted as such.

Even then, Miles knew that if he hadn't been there Frequency just would have used one of the other humans. The only reason Miles could think of why he had been chosen to help the little mech over them was because Miles had no reason to fear Barricade, and while he'd still hate being tied down to the 'con he'd not have a reason to hate Barricade besides that. He'd never battled the Decepticons, never had a reason to be afraid or hate them. Once he was shown Barricade never really intended Sam any harm then Miles was willing to try and reach out to the 'con.

And then there was Sam. There was a huge difference between how Sam was today and how Sam was on the day he woke up and realized he was a mech. His friend had made a lot of progress to accepting his body, and now he had Mikaela's and his parents' support and love, which would only help him further. Miles knew it wouldn't be too long before Sam learned Cybertronian, he had already been slipping more and more into the slang that the mechs used like femme, slag, glitch, etc., and he'd even taken to using Primus. Sam didn't need Miles there anymore to know the right time to crack a joke, or the right time to be serious and comforting to his friend. Sam was ready to stand on his own two feet, or peds if Miles bothered to think in the right terminology.

Miles sighed, catching his phone for a final time and shoving it in his pocket as he stood up. He could at least see if Frequency would get rid of the bond seeing as how good things were going.

* * *

Sam was talking animatedly to Bumblebee in their hangar, gesturing with his servos and everything, when Barricade strolled in. The human turned mech paused without even realizing it, both he and Bumblebee staring at Barricade. Barricade took a moment to glance around the rather tiny hangar, perfect for a room shared between two Cybertronians but not much else.

"You 'bots really do need to get better digs."

Bumblebee raised an optic ridge in amusement, "Ratchet turned your internet privileges on then, I take it?"

"That and the soldier fleshlings refuse to leave me alone." Barricade stated with annoyance, optics darting to the entrance to make sure he wasn't followed.

"They're a little better controlled when Will's around," Sam said soothingly before grinning, "But then again, that's only when he wants them to be. You're basically screwed."

"Why exactly do you keep them around if they're that annoying normally?" Barricade asked with a growl, "Even if they did somehow manage to hold their own against Blackout and the others they'd still be little use in a fight."

"Entertainment purposes, all of them. Even Miles, and Sam when he wa-"

"BEE!" Sam shoved the Scout off their berth, "Keep it up and you can sleep in the garage with Cade!"

Despite the lighthearted conversation there was a noticeable tension in all three mechs. For Sam it wasn't nearly as bad, Miles had explained in detail everything Frequency had showed him, and he was more than willing to agree that the Cybertronians had been at war much too long. He wasn't afraid of Barricade anymore, he was no longer little organic Sam but Cybertronian Sam, and there was a difference forming between the two. Sam was still Sam, but somehow he doubted he would have been nearly as accepting as Barricade had he still been a human.

Barricade and Bumblebee, however, had a long standing history of rivalry on the opposite factions. Both skilled in their own right, respected even among the other side despite the fact neither could rip a mech or femme in half like Optimus and Megatron, or slice them in half like Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Starscream. Barricade had always been a huge thorn in Bumblebee's side, while Bumblebee had been more of background cannon fodder to Barricade. The few times Bumblebee had been annoying enough to ruin whatever the 'con was attempting had just made him a target for Barricade to get rid of as quick as possible. And being similar sizes, talented, and well-liked by their own leader's, they ended up meeting quite a lot. If it came to a battle under normal circumstances, they were fairly evenly matched. Bumblebee's Guardian protocols had given him the needed extra boost to defeat Barricade easily back when he had been after Sam.

Both were just waiting for a wrong word to be said, by either party, and a fight to break out, despite the fact both were actively attempting to be civil, sticking to safe topics like humans and teasing, or snide on Barricade's part, remarks about Sam and his transition to a mech.

But nothing happened, not even when the odd trio moved to the cafeteria to grab their Energon cubes for dinner, nor after, when they traveled to the makeshift shooting range to watch Ironhide show off and attempt to teach Sam at the same time. Both war hardened mechs would ignore the approving grin Optimus would shoot their way, while Sam would snicker at Ratchet commenting how cute it was for the sparklings to be playing nice. The brief time when the two arm wrestled, per Epps' suggestion, was the most comfortable time between the two. They could fling insults as much as they wanted.


End file.
